virginia can't trust george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee is... responsible for the content of this advertising. good morning. staggering. entire cities and towns up and down the east coast unrecognizable in the wake of sandy. home after home submerged, police forced to carry out daring rooftop rescues in new york, while thousands of people are still stranded in new jersey. a striking view of the catastrophic damage live from above today, wednesday, october 31st, 2012. from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today," the aftermath of sandy with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live

from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> and good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone. i'm esgotry. it's one thing to see sandy's damage from the ground, but when you see it from the air it's truly striking. the magnitude of the loss is just stunning. >> it's sickening. right now natalie is over a helicopter in a dangerous situation in new jersey where another fire is burning. this has been a problem over the last couple of days. most likely that is storm-related. just north of seaside heights. first responders unable to reach the scene there. >> we'll check in with natalie in a bit but first the latest on sandy. death toll has risen to 65 people, most here in new york state. 29 lost here. some 6.6 million customers are still without power across the region, and this afternoon president obama heads to new jersey to tour the damage with governor christie.

>> here in new york city mayor michael bloomberg says it could be several more days before the subway system is running again, but limited air travel is resuming this morning at jfk international, and at newark airport over in new jersey. the stock exchange is also set to reopen today. those are some hopeful signs, but the challenges are still enormous. let's get right to natalie up in the helicopter over new jersey. natalie? >> reporter: and good morning to you, matt. flying over here and taking a look down at the jersey shoreline it's just absolutely staggering to see what i'm seeing now. you've been talking about the fire that we are over right now in mantoloking, new jersey. this shoreline, as you know, completely devastated. the governor christie saying the shore of his youth is gone. the rides he took his kids on this summer are in the atlantic ocean. this fire, as far as we know, appears to be storm-related, but obviously we cannot confirm that right now, but what we've been

able to make out by some of the structures down there, it appears some homes here have been damaged. lots of points of fire, about 25 or more that i've counted so far. the aftermath of this storm as we have seen, as you yourself witnessed in breezy point, queens yesterday. these fires are likely related to natural gas lines that are sparking the fires or downed electrical lines. this one, because of the location of it, as you can see, what was the shoreline and beautiful ocean front property, now completely pushed back, gone, covered by sand and fire there now here in mantoloking, new jersey. we're about four miles north of seaside. we know the situation there. the rides, the famous boardwalk, has also been completely wiped away. this is a community and area so

vastly devastated. many, many people hopefully are out of these areas and have evacuated before the storm, but this fire very involved here. it's going to take a while perhaps before first responders can get to this because this is part of a barrier island. so it's very much cut off, and what was -- what is left of the roads very hard to make out there as well, so situation developing here as we are keeping our eye on this here for you, and we'll have more of an overview of the entire jersey shoreline coming up throughout the morning. matt? >> thanks, natalie. we'll be checking in with you several times during the show. we appreciate it very much. >> let's get to nbc's lester holt now. he has made his way to point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. lester, good morning to you. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. you saw it from the air. this is what it looks like up close. keep in mind this goes interest community to community. point pleasant beach, the boardwalk, what's left of it. this was part of a hotel here that was along the boardwalk,

popular place. sand is everywhere. places it didn't used to be pushed inland for blocks and blocks. in fact, a moment ago i realized i was standing in the middle of a swimming pool. it's now a giant sandbox. president obama will visit the jersey shore later today. governor christie will tour him around to see the damage along this battered coastline, but, of course, it's not just new jersey. this entire region took a nasty hit. unimaginable devastation and staggering scenes of damage stretching all across the northeast as families try to recover from sandy's unforgiving wrath. >> i'm floored by what happened. >> reporter: neighborhoods are ravaged. cars and home swallowed by water. >> it was unbelievable. i never saw anything like that in my life. >> shredded debris and trees ripped from the ground, knocking down power lines and leaving an open wound of heartbreak up and down the coast. >> it was the scariest thing

i've ever seen. >> reporter: across 15 states millions have been left without power. new jersey, the state where sandy came ashore, was hardest hit. in seaside heights, the boardwalk's been ripped apart. the amusement park there before and after the storm. the roller coaster now in the atlantic ocean. the ocean swept so far onshore everything is now covered in sand. the governor told brian williams the jersey shore as we know it is forever changed. >> i'm committed to rebuilding. we're going to do it, because as you said, it is not only the heart of our economy, it's the soul of new jersey. the jersey shore is the soul of new jersey. >> reporter: even inland in little ferry, evacuations continued into tuesday night. >> you have no one to go to. water is rushing in. water is going by, and you don't know what to do. >> reporter: new york pummeled, too. in breezy point, more than 100

homes were destroyed by fire in the flood-ravaged coastal community. >> we're just devastating, blowing from one building to the next one, and those buildings were close together. >> reporter: in this dramatic rescue captured on video, a new york city police department helicopter plucked five adults and one child from rooftops in a flooded section of staten island. elsewhere in new york city, hundreds of thousands still without power. the stock market reopens today, but important parts of the city were crippled by flooding and debris. >> downtown manhattan, we had the hudson river came over the banks and was pouring in to the ground zero site. >> reporter: new york's train and subway service are suspended, and it may be days before they resume. schools closed again today. that high rise collapsed crane above new york city is still dangling, an ominous reminder of sandy's lingering danger. all along the south shore of new

york's long island there's damage, home and lives lost. connecticut's coastline littered with submerged homes. sandy's impact is being felt across a large part of the country. west virginia, pounded with two feet of snow. and even lake michigan churning with dangerous high waves as the effects of the storm were felt well inland. the economic aftermath is still unfolding, but in spite of a destruction and loss, a resolve to rebuild and to reflect. >> i still have my life. we still have our health. >> reporter: when he visits with the president here along the shore today, governor christie is execs pected to talk to the president about the possibility of using the armey corps of engineers to rebuild this area. yesterday at a news conference the governor waxed on about the new jersey of his youth, the jersey shore of his youth. i think a lot of folks who come

here are feeling awfully jost nick and sad, matt. >> lester holt, i think a lot of people agree with you on that. thanks very much. al roker is 70 miles south in atlantic city. that city took a major hit as well. al, good morning to you. >> well, good morning, matt and savannah. you want to talk about nostal a nostalgia. you can't think of atlantic city without thinking about one of its most iconic features, the boardwalk. well, i'm on the boardwalk, but the problem is the ocean where the boardwalk should be is about 200 yards that way, and that's the danger here when you have the power of water and it meets a force and something like a boardwalk, even though as sturdy as this thing has been, and it stood for 80 years, it was no match, and it is now pushed as far south as parts of the casinos that make this city famous as well. but, even though it has been destroyed, the mayor here says they will rebuild.

people think atlantic city, they think the boardwalk, and you're looking at -- you're looking at part of that boardwalk. what do you do when you see something like this? >> well, again, you know, this can be replaced. human lives cannot be replaced, and so we'll do what we can and what we must and what we should do to regroup and pull ourselves together. we'll rebuild this boardwalk, no doubt about it. >> you see you're going to be a direct hi. you're in the command center. things pass, safe to go out. what do you see when you get out there? >> to be honest with you the damage is pretty extensive so it could have been a lot worse. i see the glass as half full and not half empty. given the catastrophic nature of this storm, i certainly expected it to be a lot worse than it was. >> there was a back and forth, well, the governor of your state, called you out saying that you countermanneded a directive from him to make sure that people were evacuated, and you dispute what he said.

>> i'm extraordinarily disappointed in elected officials who decide to tell people to directly contravene an order from the governor. that's going to cost people significa significantly. >> i can tell you, said on a number of occasions, both in the electronic immediate why and print media residents should heeded clarion call and get out of the city. we said it repeatedly and consistently. >> what lessons were learned from sandy? >> well, again, you can never be too prepared, and the other side of that coin is no matter how prepared you, are you're always going to get thrown a curveball, so the best thing that you can do is to stay prayerful, stay diligent and try to do better than you did this time the next time. >> and long-term challenges? >> to rebuild this boardwalk and other parts of the city and make it bigger and better than it was before. >> and savannah, what's amazing is all those scenes of streets under water, well, 24 hours later there's almost no flooding

here. the waters have receded, and the cleanup is now under way, even as we're speaking. >> what a job it is, al roker in atlantic city, we'll check back in with you in a few minutes. >> let's go back over to natalie flying over the jersey shore this morning. she's got some more damage to talk about. natalie? >> good morning, matt. as the sun has come up here now over mantaloking, new jersey, i'm just a couple of miles north of where lester is, you can see the boats down below us have been tossed as if they were toys into homes. from what i can tell from above, practically there's no street left that makes this point accessible. there are fires burning in the area, and first responders to get there, it's been completely cut off. we're hoping there are no people still in these homes because there's not much left. some structures obviously still standing there, but there you see some of the fires as we pan down, and it's -- it appears to

be four or five at least from what i can tell different lots that have been consumed by these fires, and would i imagine, as you see, they are still smouldering, so this is something that overnight, perhaps it developed, and nobody has been able to get to these areas to try to take care of this situation, but this area of mantaloking new jersey. this is an affluent community. lots of beautiful homes. i have friends who have homes down here, and they have told me that they have seen pictures of people kayaking basically in and around the houses just to try to survey the damage because yesterday that was the only way to get around, but, you know, as we see with more daylight now, the sands, the cars, have completely overtaken what was a beautiful neighborhood along the jersey shore, and governor chris christie, president obama is going to be joining him. once again they will be taking a tour of some of the most devastated areas of the jersey

shoreline. matt, back to you. >> natalie, thanks very much. >> we'll check back in with her as she has that view from high above the jersey shore. another huge story going on in this country. hard to believe that the presidential election is just six days away now, and the storm has forced several states to take a closer look at their election day plans. nbc's chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent. chuck, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. mitt romney actually resumes a full campaign schedule today in florida, but president obama will focus for one more day fully on sandy recovery efforts. he'll get that firsthand look of the jersey shore and the damage there later today. election day may be six days away, but the president appears to believe the best politics, stay off the campaign trail. today it's storm-ravaged new jersey. tuesday red cross headquarters. >> my message to the federal government. no bureaucracy, no red tape, get resources where they are needed as fast as possible. >> reporter: mitt romney also

suspended campaigning tuesday but still traveled to the battleground state of ohio to encourage donations to the red cross. >> i appreciate the fact that people right here in dayton got up this morning, some went to the grocery store i see and purchased some things that these families will need. >> reporter: governor romney is back campaigning today holding three rallies across florida. but the president remains in disaster response mode. he'll survey storm damage with new jersey's republican governor chris christ yeempt among issues christie plans to bring up, how to build a more weatherproof jersey shore. >> one of the things i'll be talking to the president about tomorrow is bringy the army corps in immediately to talk to us about how's the best way to rebuild the jersey shore. >> reporter: despite election day on the horizon, christie didn't seem very concerned about how his state would hold an election. >> i don't give a damn about election day. it doesn't matter a lick to me, so let the politicians who are on the ballot worry about election day. it's not my problem. i'm not dealing with it at the moment. >> reporter: local officials in new jersey and other states are

worried about next tuesday. in new york city's nassau county, loss of power may force votes to be counted by hand, delaying the results n.connecticut, officials will consider whether to relocate polling places, and west virginia may deploy generators to keep lights on and voting machines humming. >> reporter: meanwhile the two campaigns continue to battle over the perception of which campaign has the momentum. both are now advertising in three new normally reliable democratic states, michigan, minnesota and pennsylvania. the romney campaign says it's evidence they have expanded the map. the obama campaign says it's a sign that mr. romney has run out of routes to 270 electoral votes, the number needed to win so they are throwing hail marys in new states. little evidence to back up obama spin on that, savannah. three new polls out from the "new york times" showing the president leading narrowly in

three states, pennsylvania, maryland and ohio. >> tamron hall is over at the news desk. new york. >> reporter: offer closing its doors for two days for the first time in its decade they reopen this morning. cnbc's mandy drury is there. mandy, good morning. >> reporter: thanks for that. the lights are own and traders have returned to business. hopefully things returning to normal. mayor bloomberg is ringing the opening bell after two days of being in the dark. we've not seen close here in the markets in the united states for 1888 for two days due to a weather-related event. things that we're look for, stocks impacted negatively by hurricane sandy, hotels, retailers, home improvement stores suc as home depot and there's ny hhways shut down and lots and lots of flights

have also been cancelled. back to you. >> all right, mandy. thank you very much. the teen who allegedly confessed to killing 10-year-old colorado schoolgirl jessica ridgeway has been charged as an adult with 17 counts, including four murder charges. prosecutors also say 17-year-old austin sigg sexually assaulted jessica. if convicted as an adult, he faces life in prison. his defense team is still trying to send the case to juvenile court. well, nassau has compiled a first ever list of minerals found on another planet. the curiosity rover on mars finds the soil on the red planet remarkably similar to the volcanic sand found in hawaii. now, this discovery will help scientists figure out if our neighbor in the solar system could once have supported life. and broadway actor and choreographer jacob brent issued a call to musical arms from times square urging his fellow performers to help life new york city performers after sandy blew

through. dozens of performers showed up. ♪ the sun will come out tomorrow ♪ ♪ but you've got to hang on until tomorrow ♪ ♪ come what may ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow, i love you, tomorrow ♪ >> you can join from n from home. the performers managed to he head -- to raise some cash for the red cross before they headed back to their new jobs over on broadway. it's 719 on -- ♪ today, today >> saw that coming, tamron. >> thank you very much. >> got to love her spirit. >> let's go back to al in atlantic city for a forecast. al? >> there were some stray cats moving through here, and threw themselves in the ocean. it was really sad, really sad.

>> defend me, matt laut lauer, defend me. >> keep walking, tamron, team walking. >> okay. let's see what we've got. this is what's left of of sandy making its way past pittsburgh now. you can actually see not just rain but some snow and some frozen presip working in as well. we have windy conditions to talk about. albany, wind gusts of 23 miles per hour. pittsburgh, 30 miles per hour. cincinnati, 31. as we make our way into tomorrow, the winds die down. to the south, look at this, west virginia, 34-mile-per-hour winds. speaking of washington state, they have a big storm system coming in in the pacific northwest. lots of wind, gail force winds in the pacific northwest to california. we are talking two to four inches of rain. some areas up to five inches. that's what's going on around

the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> good morning, i'm tom kierein. as we approach dawn, a few breaks in the clouds. there's quite a bit of cloudiness to the south, north and west. sprinkles showing up on the radar. we might have a few sprinkles around the metro area for a couple hours. the sun in and out as well. during the afternoon, peeking in the mid-50s. a blustery wind. bree >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right. a thank you very much. coming up, how much can one neighborhood bear? our visit to a community devastated by 9/11, by the crash of american airlines flight 587 and now sandy. plus much more on the storm's devastation from above. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

a live look at that crane still dangling in manhattan d.human error play a role in its collapse? also, let's not forget it is halloween today. while we won't be dressing up, we'll help you get in the spirit. that comes up after these messages, your local news and weather. even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

so the production of twix was divided between two separate factories. left twix factory cascades caramel and chocolate onto cookie, while right twix factory flows caramel and chocolate onto cookie. today they share nothing, but a wrapper and a driveway. try both and pick a side. tliving with moderate to, semeans living with pain.isy. it could also mean living with joint damage. help relieve the pain and stop the damage with humira, adalimumab. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. so you can treat more than just the pain. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b,

are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage before they stop you. good morning. 7:26 right now. i'm aaron gilchrist. big problems on the outer loop of the beltway in maryland. danella sealock has the first 4 traffic. >> this has been going on for some time. as you approach new hampshire avenue, just the left shoulder gets you by. we'll talk about the latest, 9 miles per hour as you go from 50 to i-95. a slow trip will take an hour. i-95 is slow. aaron, back to you. >> thank you. the forecast after this break.

magnificent sunrise over the potomac on this wednesday morning. sunrise is at 7:35. 43 now at reagan national. mostly cloudy. a light breeze from the south.

we have a few sprinkles coming up on storm team 4 radar. a passing sprinkle. highs in the mid-50s. blustery, dry over the weekend. aa

that is the amusement pier in seaside heights, new jersey in much happier times, and here is a look at the situation there this morning. the aftermath of sandy. truly striking. we're going to check in with natalie who is high above the jersey shore checking out some of the damage this morning. we say good morning again to you. it's 7:30 on the east coast. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. >> there are scenes like that all up and down the northeastern coast. i drove out to queens to visit some of the communities hit hard by the storms there. there's one neighborhood in particular that has dealt with so much in recent years, from the impact of 9/11, to the deadly crash of american airlines flight 587, and now

they are being asked to cope once again. we'll have more on that coming up. >> all right. we've got new details on that 80-ton crane here in midtown manhattan that partially collapsed during the storm. well, it's still hanging there. coming up, we'll hear from an expert who says based on what he saw he is not surprised it blew over, and we'll also talk about what plans there are to do something about it as it's still dangling high above the city. >> it will be a dramatic operation. and the dramatic stories of two babies who entered the world during the height of the storm, one born in a church gymnasium when an ambulance couldn't get the mother to the hospital on time. >> we want to begin with natalie. she is high above the jersey shore getting a hue of the visitoric destruction. natalie, good morning again. do you have a sense of the scope of how much of the shore side has been damaged here? >> well, we know that the damage that we are seeing here just in seaside, this stretches along for hundreds of miles really, up and down the jersey shoreline.

new jersey governor chris christie took an aerial tour as well of the area yesterday, and he called the damage incalculable. but for those who lost so much, this is beyond any dollar amount. the president will be joining the governor today to get an overview and to take a look firsthand at some of the damage we're seeing, but that pier there in seaside. of course, you may not be familiar with it, but many may know it sadly from snooki and "the jersey shore" cast having spent time here on these rides as well. i myself spent some time this summer on these rides with my kids, and, of course, it's unthinkable, but, of course, the amusement park, it's sad to see this, but what you see beyond this, what you see beyond the homes and structures that have been completely reduced to sm h

smithereens, boats piled on top of each other, cars on top of homes. my photographer did an excellent job showing me this morning this is strikingly similar to some of the images he remembers seeing covering hurricane andrew and flying over the area there in south florida as well. you see what's left. here was a roller coaster ride. it's pretty much a roller coaster in the ocean now. it's going to take a good long time to rebuild this area. governor chris christie vowing that that would begin today, that they would start just trying to clean up the area and get an assessment of the true damage and vow that new jersey will rebuild its shore but saying it may not be the same, but they are going to bring it back. savannah? >> and your images there this morning, natalie, show just how much work there is to be done. back to you in a moment. >> the travel nightmare caused by this storm. text tends well beyond the northeast to airports and train

stations all across the country. nbc's tom costello is at rage abe national airport which, by the way, is back in business this morning. tom, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. systemwide another 2,600 flight cancellations today. that brings the total now to about 18,000. behind me though, this airport is bubbling to life. look out the window. we've got a couple of planes on the ramp here which is nice to see. the real problem though remains new york city. we have got newark airport and jfk on limited operations today, and laguardia remains closed. day three of a massive travel nightmare, and so much of it centers on new york city. flooding everywhere. the subway closed. the new jersey/new york p.a.t.h. train under water, and this, the big apple's three airports all struggling. floodwaters at laguardia were right up to the jet bridges. >> runways are flooded, and

there are no flights leaving or arriving. how much damage was done to the navigation equipment and lighting around them, we don't know yet. >> reporter: with new york and the northeast accounting for roughly a quarter of all u.s. air traffic every day, hundreds of thousands of travelers are anxious to get home, stranded in san francisco. >> i was out. gas leaks all over the place, flooding, and i don't know what to expect when i get back? all the way to london. >> the earlier i would be able to fly to boston is on friday, the 2nd, and that would just be to boston, not even new york. >> reporter: at airports nationwide it's been three days of travel strategizing. >> and we're going to have to take a flight to atlanta and a flight from atlanta to phoenix. if not we'll go back to charlotte, charlotte to houston and houston to phoenix. >> reporter: this is god news, boston, philly, chicago and washington are taking flights, going from deserted ghost towns with no planes and nothing open to a few flickers of activity.

at reagan national the first planes pulled in midday tuesday, a welcome site for those trying to get home to alabama. >> had my flights cancelled all day yesterday and now it looks like delta is going on time today at 4:00. i'm feeling lucky. >> but the airlines still have many planes parked away from the disaster zone at airports all over the country. not even close to resuming normal operations. >> i think realistically the system is going to start to get back to normal late weekend, early next week. we certainly have a large backlog of travelers that will need to be rebooked as well as very full flights later this week and into the weekend. >> reporter: that is not what emily wants it hear. she has pressing business back in phoenix. >> because i'm going to do halloween in phoenix with my friends. >> reporter: got to keep your priorities straight. we also need to tell you what's

happening with amtrak, serious disruptions along the northeast corridor. let's show you that very quickly. there is, because of new york city's tunnels being flooded out, there are -- there is no acela express service at all today and probably not tomorrow. no new york city to boston service, no new york city to buffalo, montreal or vermont. the bottom line is if you're trying to go anywhere south from newark, south, in other words, on down to d.c., richmond what have you, you probably have service. if you're trying to go north of newark, you're out of luck. back to you guys. >> all right. tom costello at reagan national this morning, tom, thanks very much. as sandy's floodwaters recede and relief efforts get under way, personal stories of tragedy, loss and heroism are emerging. we took a trip out to queens on tuesday running into downed trees and debris all along the way to visit a community that is once again facing enormous loss. it is an indelible image of sandy's destruction.

in breezy point, some said whatever wasn't flooded was on fire. in the end, more than 100 homes destroyed. >> we've got our children and our families. >> reporter: and just down the coast the same devastation. here in rockaway beach it was also a combination of the storm and fire. flames broke out here at the height of sandy, and because the water was so deep here, fire fighters simply couldn't get in to put them out, so the wind whipped the flames from building to building, home to home. this was the harbor light pub, very well known in this area, one of the reasons the owner of that restaurant lost his son during the attacks of 9/11. and when i got out of the car here a short time ago, i had an immediate and eerie sense of deja vu. the reason is this. back on november 12th, 2001, american airlines flight 587 took off from john f. kennedy airport, a short distance from here. it wasn't airborne very long, and it came straight down, nose first. it crashed where that gray house

is right now. 260 people on board died. i anchored the show from here the next morning. i'm matt lauer in belle harbor where flight 587 crashed into a house behind me, the destruction devastating. it's a neighborhood that has been asked to bear more than it should have to. rockaway lost 57 people on 9/11 and flight 587 crashed here soon after, and now almost every block, homes destroyed, and along with them a lifetime of memories. linda humphry grew up here. talk to me a little bit about this neighborhood. >> this neighborhood, you can't say enough about this neighborhood. we've been through a lot with, you know, 9/11 and planes crashing and we all pulled together. it's unbelievable, you know, the neighborhood feel you get in rockaway beach and belle harbor here. >> reporter: these are pictures linda took of sandy battering

her neighborhood. she said she decided to stick it out despite a mandatory evacuation thinking last year's hurricane irene wasn't so bad. so did many of her neighbors. the owners of this house barely survived. they fled their home at 6:00 monday night. it broke apart soon after. neighborwide david scharf finds himself searching for keepsakes of places where he learned to ride a bike. >> i grew up here basically in my childhood home and it's basically gone. the water ripped through here last night and this morning and it's utter devastation. >> reporter: your parents still live here? >> my parents still live here. they are safely in brooklyn, and we're trying to salvage the remnants of what's left of the home. >> reporter: what would you like to find for your parent's sake? >> i'd like to find some photographs, for my children's sake my childhood photographs. i'd like to find some things from my grandparents that my grandparents had here. these are real treasures.

hopefully we find them. >> reporter: chief james mcnally says his fire fighters fought hard to save this neighborhood. have you ever seen anything like that before where you simply couldn't get in to where the buildings were on fire? >> 30 years on a fire department. i've been in snowstorms, other hurricanes. units were not able to get into rockaway last night. no units got in here for close to two hours. >> reporter: what is that like for guys who are trained, to go in and put fires out? >> i'm sure it was frustrating because units were staged on high ground right across the bridge, and they were able to see the fires, and a lot of them have family and friends over here, and what happened was, you know what, they just couldn't come here. you can't drive a fire truck through five to seven feet of water. we had to wait for the water surge to recede a little bit and by then you can see the results here, catastrophic. >> reporte >> back to the harbor light pub burned down where so much

happened. the owner tragically lost his son on 9/11. he spoke to us after the crash of flight 587. >> everybody, it wasn't an i day, it was a we day and an everybody day. there are so many people in this neighborhood that are firemen and pd, civilians. everybody helped. this community will be together forever. >> reporter: his words spoken in a different time, echoing and being tested today in a neighborhood that has answered the call before. really was an extraordinary trip out there, and all the people that came up to on the street say i wonder if people at fema know how much they need them now. they have no communication no, electricity. cell phones don't work. they don't know that people out there know about their struggles. >> astonishing to see and to hear how many of them talk about that close-knit community, but as you said how much can one community be asked to bear. well, we want to head to another community that's been hard hit by this storm, atlantic city. that's where al roker is this morning. al, good morning again to you. >> good morning, savannah and

matt, and right behind me, this is the boardwalk. it makes kind of an "l" turn, but as you can see there's the atlantic where the boardwalk should be. you can see the cement pilings. that's where the boardwalk resting on, so it is going to take a lot of work to get that back to where it is. work is going on, even as we speak. take a look over here. you've got front-end loaders pushing dirt and sand that's washed up to try to clear the streets out. let's show you what's going on is power. folks without power, it's getting cold here in the northeast for a lot of folks affected. above normal temperatures in new england now. the northeast, below to much below normal temperatures today and tomorrow. that cold air moves north and east into the areas already affected without power. we hope for those folks sake, they get their power back on. for the rest of the country, heavy rain in the pacific

northwest. rainy conditions in new england. windy today around the great lakes for a second day in a row. plenty of sunshine gulf coast, texas to the southwest. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening around your neck of the woods. stunning sunrise this halloween morning after the storm. finally, sunshine back. that's a live view from our city camera. 43 degrees at reagan national. the wind gusting to 20 miles per hour. storm team 4 radar showing scattered sprinkles around the region. a scattered sprinkle for an hour or two. highs >> you're mesmerized by the beauty of the atlantic, but you realize when it turns it turns very quickly. matt? >> thanks, al. we'll check back in with you in a bit. the crane now dangling over the streets of manhattan properly secured before the storm?

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>> reporter: hey, savannah, good morning to you. it's a menacing sight. you're standing here on the street and you look up, and there it is, that crane that is absolutely just teetering and hanging over the city streets. right now i'm standing at the edge of the evacuation zone. no one in or out in a four-block radius. city officials trying to figure out how to get it down safely, and this morning we have learned there have been problems with this crane at this site before. the massive crane collapse caught on home video monday. sandy's winds new york it down like a toy, scaring everyone below. >> it's not clear whether t if, god forbid, anything should fall from that -- from the top of that crane. >> reporter: 80 tons of metal now dangling 1,000 feet up over one of new york's busiest streets, west 57th. the crane helping to build this super posh apartment building called 157, slated to be the tallest residential tower in all

of manhattan. >> there's a main tower. it seems to be well secured to the building. the only part that is in danger of falling, we think, is the boom. >> reporter: this crane has been cited for safety issues in the past. according to city inspection reports, the crane's owner, pinnacle industries, has been fined several times. march 2012, a violation for failure to safeguard all persons and property. in april another violation, this time for operation of crane in an unsafe manner, and in august, crane leaking hydraulic fluid. all the violations have been resolved. still unclear, what caused this to happen, but after watching the news coverage, one of the country's most renowned experts believes this was human error. the crane not secured in the right position. >> the proof is in the videos. it was at a high boom angle. they know it can be blown over.

>> reporter: two city engineers have inspected the damaged crane. so far they say no indication of anything improper. >> it's conceivable nobody did anything wrong whatsoever. there wasn't even a malfunction, just a strange combust of wind. >> reporter: cranes are an issue in the series after a series of accidents. this crane collapsed in manhattan killing seven people and months later another crane killed in manhattan killing two people. the city tightened regulations, and before this storm told all operators to secure their cranes. now the giant task of keeping this giant from falling. engineers may tie it to the building which would take days. getting it down could take much longer. >> i would say approximately maybe four to six weeks. they are going to have to bring in another tower crane and go

alongside of it and take it down that way. >> reporter: back to a live picture of the crane dangling over new york city, we raechd out to pinnacle, the crane company. we were unable to reach them. the company managing the construction site now tells nbc news it had the crane inspected just days before the storm and secured it following all procedures, and they are cooperating fully with the city. back here on the ground, city officials say they want to get back up there today to figure out what to do next. it could be several more days, if not longer, that this whole area is closed. savannah. >> jeff rossen, what a sight and maybe one we're looking at for a long time. thank you for your report. back with more of our coverage right after this. hi.

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7:56 is your time now on this wednesday, october 31st, 20126789 good morning. i'm eun yang. a nasty morning on the beltway as thousands head back to work after sandy. danella sealock, good morning. >> good morning. the delays are 11 miles. the accident, as you approach new hampshire avenue, the left shoulder lane will get you by. look at the delays at 50. they start around landover road. it is a tough, tough mess this morning. back to you. >> thanks so much. we are going take a quick break. weather is up next.

[ earnest ] out of the blue one day, we were told to build a 30-foot stage. gathered the guys and we built that 30-foot stage, not knowing what it was for. just days later, all three shifts were told to assemble in the warehouse. a group of people walked out on that stage and told us that the plant is now closed and all of you are fired... i looked both ways, i looked at the crowd, and...we all just lost our jobs. we don't have an income. mitt romney made over 100 million dollars by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives. turns out that when we built that stage,

it was like building my own coffin, and it just made me sick. [ male announcer ] priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. sxz storm team 4 radar showing sprinkles nohwest and south of the metro area. we might have a few passing sprinkles in an hour or two. sunshine in and out. highs reaching mid-50 z. it's chilly, only 40 degrees. the winds get breezy later today, tonight and tomorrow. high 50s with dry weather into the weekend. >> thanks. another n

it's 8:00 now on a wednesday morning. it is october 31st, 2012. halloween morning. a little different one for us here on the "today" show this year for obvious reasons. new york city and the surrounding areas slowly bouncing back from the storm that was sandy. we are happy to have some folks back on the plaza, and we hope things are going well where you are waking up this morning as well. we have cancelled our halloween celebration today, but on friday a pick me up for storm-weary people around here. aerosmith live in concert live on the plaza. that's right. the show will go on, and by friday we will need a change of pace, so if you can do it

safely, leave your homes and come on down to join steven tyler, joe perry and the guys for what is sure to be a great show out on our plaza. >> a great pick me up. >> just another, another story with a positive side. families who weathered sandy and came out with new bundles of joy on the other side including one woman who gave birth after just making it to a makeshift shelter in a church gym. what a story. we're going to talk to her. >> and we'll go back to natalie flying in a helicopter. she's been giving us an aerial view of some of the damage along the new jersey shore. first, nbc's lester holt also on the jersey shore. he's in the very hard hit town of point pleasant beach. lester, good morning again. >> reporter: good morning. it's a beautiful sunrise over the beach, but the beach is only half of what it used to be. you hear of storm surging and hear of water moving inland and that's what it is, and what you don't appreciate until you see all of this is until it rearranges the landscape. this is the boardwalk at point

pleasant beach. this was a motel, the kind of damage you see in any community up and down this beach, and then there was sand everywhere. when that water comes in, takes on the sand. it really removes the beach. this, we're standing, i want to show you, this is the gate right here. that's the gate to the pool area, and this over here this is the lip of the pool. i'm standing in the pool. it's filled with sand. this isn't just a block off the beach. it's two blocks off the beach or three. it goes in for blocks and blocks and blocks. homes flooded in the only with water but sand. president obama will be visiting new jersey this afternoon. he'll tour the area with governor christie to get a severance what's happened here. of course, it's a disaster area, but this morning we've already seen residents out taking tours of their own, walking along the beach, shaking their heads and hugging each other in some cases trying to take in, trying to find something to compare it to. that's been very difficult because there really isn't much to compare the kind of damage that they have seen here. the governor said we will

rebuild this area, but he talked about the jersey shore of his youth. he says people of my age, it will never be the same. we'll rebuild but it won't be the same. i'm sure he'll share those sentiments with the president during that afternoon tour. >> lester holt in point pleasant beach, thank you very much. >> want to get a check of the day's other stories. we'll check out the jersey shore with tamron hall at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. the northeast is still trying to recover from hurricane sandy. a series of fires broke out in one hard-hit shore town. at heat 55 deaths are now blamed on the east coast superstorm. thousands of people are stranded in their homes forcing some rescuers to take to the air. more than 6 million utility customers are still without power today. in new york city, commuters still had no subway or train service and schools were closed for three days. signs of hope as the new york stock exchange reopens this morning and limited air travel resumes at jfk and newark

liberty international airport. after putting his campaign on hold for the hurricane, republican mitt romney resumes a full schedule today with three stops in florida. on friday he'll join running mate congressman paul ryan for a big rally in ohio. both campaigns are also unleashing a blizzard of final week tv ads to sway undecided voters in key swing states. yet another shark attack in california, but unlike last week's victim the 25-year-old surfer bitten on tuesday has survived. he's been hospitalized and is in fair condition. fellow surfers helped rescue the man who was suffering from a 14-inch bite from what experts say was likely a great white. and now for a look at what's trending today, our quick roundup of what has you talking online. disney's announcement tuesday that it is buying lukas film for more than $4 billion is a huge deal online. disney has vowed to make at least three more "star wars" movies with the first one due out 2015, circle your calendar,

and some diehard fans are wondering how the entertainment giant disney will handle the cherished film franchise. octomom nadya suleman has checked in to a rehab program to deal with anxiety and stress. she has been taking xanax under a doctor's care but felt she needed a treatment program to help with her recovery. in the meantime, nannies and friends will take care of her sextuplets and six older children. and a baby walrus has survived hurricane sandy with help from dedicated humans. he became an online sensation this month when he went to the new york aquarium on coney island. he wanted the aquarium and staff members stayed on site to give the walrus around-the-clock care. there's a kiss. back to matt and savannah. >> all right, tamron. thank you very much. >> i'm not sure a kiss from a

walrus is a reward. okay, maybe. let's get a check of the wetter from al who is in atlantic city this morning. good morning, al. >> good morning, guys. at the iconic boardwalk in atlantic city. the problem is it should be 200 yards that way, unfortunately. the power of the atlantic combined with sandy really destroying this boardwalk, and the mayor says they don't know when they will be able to rebuild it, but there is cleanup work going on just beyond where the boardwalk is right now. they are working hard at doing that that. let's talk about sandy. the remnants west of pittsburgh, it's spinning around, bringing gusty winds and showers as well. bringing snow in west virginia where they have picked up some areas as much as 30 inches of snow. they are not quite done yet. we have snowfall amounts of anywhere from nine to 12 inches of snow around west virginia. a wide swath of snow from pennsylvania down to boone,

north carolina. the rest of the country, we have windy conditions around the great lakes. another big storm moving into the pacific northwest that's going to bring one to four inches of rain down to northern california. plenty of sunshine from nevada down into the southwest. gulf coast, breezy conditions still exist as far south as georgia, alabama and mississippi. >> garrett county got two feet of the snow yesterday. they may get more today. as youz look at storm team 4 radar, a batch of snow may be moving in over the next couple hours. closer to washington, scattered sprinkles west and southwest of the metro area. temperatures are chilly. upper 30s to 40s. storm team 4 four day forecast, dry pattern. cool days into the weekend. >> and that's your latest weather.

matt? >> thanks, al. up next, imagine going into labor in the middle of a storm like sandy. we'll meet two babies who had remarkable entrances into the world, and we'll talk to their relieved parents right after this. [ mom ] we already have a tv. would you like to know more about it? yeah, but let me put my wife on speaker. hi! hi. it's led and it has great picture quality. i don't know... it's ultra slim... maybe next year. you could always put it on layaway and pay a little at a time. alright. we'll take it! ah! i love you! hmm! ahem. football. [ male announcer ] shop now. get the hottest brands on your list today... like the lg 55 inch led tv. and put it on layaway now so you have more time to pay. walmart. perfect golden color. rich in fiber. my dad taught me, and i taught my son out there. morning, pa. wait... who's driving the...? ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat ♪ [ male announcer ] yep, there's 8 layers

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micah marcus was born, but it was a labor of love bringing him into the world. >> it was more crazy than we could possibly imagine. >> reporter: julia was having contractions at new york university langone medical center when the power went out and the backup generator failed. her husband was getting something to eat >> i walked into the cafeteria, full-on blackout. he couldn't see the storm but could hear it. >> i think the hurricane was battering the hospital. everything was shaking, and i heard this crazy rushing of water sound. it was coming off the fdr into first avenue, and into the hospital. the basement was flooded. the ground floor was flooded at that point. >> reporter: pack in the delivery room julia was having powerful contractions. >> they were like 30 seconds apart. it started being like really painful. >> reporter: and, i mean, at that point i was like this -- this is insane, this couldn't get any worse. >> he stepped in and even helped doctors give his wife an

epidural in the dark. >> reporter: i was holding a cell phone above her while they were putting in the iv and putting in the epidural. >> with no power to safely deliver the baby, the hospital evacuated julia and the other patients. >> they took her off the bed, got her on this med sled and proceeded to slide her really slowly down eight flights of stairs. there's a lot of screaming going on. there were about six people with newborns. like a group of six people with oxygen tank and other medical attachments and this baby trying to get by us, down more quickly than us. >> reporter: after 20 minutes they reached the ground floor and rushed to mt. sinai hospital, but the roads were dangerous. >> as we were driving up third avenue i hear a loud bang on top of the ambulance, and once we got to the hospital, we found out that a tree, a tree branch or something had fallen right on the ambulance as we were driving up third avenue. >> reporter: couple made it just in time. within minutes micah was born,

arriving into the world as the calm after the storm. >> i've never been in so much pain as, you know, throughout all these hours and then as soon as he was born, you know, you just forget. >> reporter: hard to forget that one. nine bayne babies were transported from nyu to mt. sinai in the storm. 42 babies in all in born in that hospital during the height of sandy. you can't be epidural by cell phone light. >> wow, what a story. andrea canning, thank you so much. another story. christine and dave had their own dramatic story. they are here with their brand new baby liam. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> well, christine, i want to hear what happened, but first, how are you doing? how is the baby doing? >> we're both doing great. he's -- he's amazing. five weeks premature. he's perfect. >> well, you two are pretty amazing. david, take us through this. christine was five weeks early,

experiencing contractions at the height of the storm. you decide we've got to get in the car and drive to the hospital and then what happened? >> well, we actually, because of the road conditions they told us absolutely do not drive, to call the emergency squad, which luckily is only about five minutes from our house, so they get to our house in an ambulance and a couple rescue vehicles. we get christine in the ambulance, and we start going out to the hospital we wanted to go to. at that point in time they got a point that said that the hospital's generators had crashed so go to a second hospital. en route to the second hospital they said that the roads were too blocked, they couldn't get there, but the first hospital had its generators back up so turn around there and then the first ambulance -- >> not to cut it short, i want to make sure we get to the dramatic conclusion here because christine, you end up in an emergency mobile unit inside a church gym. what was your delivery like under those circumstances?

>> en route thereto contractions were at that point two minutes apart. i panicked, and we got to -- at that point they couldn't continue to the second hospital and turned around and got to the makeshift hospital where i was panicking. being liam was five weeks early, they didn't have the proper -- they didn't have a nicu there, who he needed in case he had difficulty breathing, but at that point they began -- they picked up dramatically. we arrived there at 9:50, and right before he was born they didn't think it was going to happen. they thought it was another episode of false labor, but he came at 11:00 p.m. >> made quite a dramatic -- >> no epidural. >> and no epidural. christine, my goodness, i don't know how you did that, but we're so happy to see you and see little liam. >> neither do i. >> and just wish you all the best. >> thank you >> thank you. >> well, coming up next, some

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pick some up where you buy groceries. america runs on dunkin'. . back now at 8:21 with more of the widespread damage from sandy. it's been described as a once in a lifetime storm, but a week ago there was one group of scientists who saw it coming and let us new. nbc's keir simmons caught up with them. keir, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. thousands of miles from the storm here in england, that group of scientists were making cutting-edge calculations last week providing an early warning of the damage sandy would do. it was a storm warning that must have seemed incredible to some. and because it was so early helped millions of americans prepare for the worst. one week ago today, last wednesday, al relayed a dire forecast on "today." scientists in europe predicting sandy would hit the east coast.

>> the european model keeps it hugging the coast, and by early tuesday morning it's inland in the northeast. >> reporter: early call came from the european weather center in england, 250 staff posting 150 million weather observations every day but have seen nothing like this. a hurricane making a left hook into the northeast. when you first saw this, what was your reaction? >> obviously we were concerned. even eight days ahead we could see the tropical cyclone developing she to assess the odds of sandy hitting the east coast, their super computer had created 51 forecasts, all had one outcome. >> all took the storm north and then towards the eastern seaboard. >> reporter: by the weekend, the american and european models had converged. without these forecasts the human cost might have been far worse.

essentially you and the other 250 scientists working here probably saved lives? >> i think it certainly motivates all of the people who work here. >> reporter: and global warming could make their work more important than ever. >> if it turned out to be the case that such storms became more common, then our weather forecasting models need to factor that in. >> reporter: if the weather patterns are changing, then so is our ability to predict them. already the scientists are planning more research to help them and all of us plan for the future. because if it's true, as new york's governor says, that we are now dealing with extreme weather patterns in a way we haven't seen, then centers like the one you've just seen are more important than ever, and, matt, that warning from al last week was so important. >> certainly was. keir simmons, good work on their part and yours, by the way. >> want to show you remarkable images before and after the storm. they really highlight the

impact. that's a building on eighth avenue here in manhattan. here's what happened. that's before and then you get a picture and view right inside. >> there was a parking garage right down in the financial district high and dry on the left. here's what it looks like now. >> and, of course, the new york skyline which is partially dark these days, that's before and then we can show you the picture after, and, in fact, i think we have video of the moment the lights went out on monday night. >> there it is. obviously somebody just taking a scan of the damage when everything went dark, except for some flashing lights. by the way, so many people without power. one of the things now that's become a problem, charging your phones and everything else. lots of people in this city have been trying to help out their neighbors, offering power strips, coming out of stores that do have power. this guy, for example, got one where people just plugged in on the street and that's the way we're getting by around here. >> yeah. necessity, the mother of invention. those are power hungry new

yorkers right there. we will be right back right after this. breaking news at 8:26. a huge crash on the beltway causing delays in maryland. danella sealock has the traffic. >> here is the situation. some good news traveling the outer loop approaching new hampshire avenue, now, the right lane gets you by as well as the left shoulder lane. serious delays are growing in this area. let's talk about them. you are looking at an 11-mile back up. out irer loop. to go from route 50 to i-95, 11 miles per hour. terribly slow. back to you. >> weather is next.

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good morning. right now, storm team 4 radar showing scattered sprinkles across northern virginia into maryland. there's another batch of snow into garrett county. yesterday, they got two feet of snow. power still out there. four day forecast, afternoon highs, mid-50s and breezy.

the storm team 4 seven day outlook for the weekend. we'll have some sunshine in and out today and into next tuesday. highs 50s and chilly

8:30 now on this wednesday morning. it's the 31st of october, 2012, aka halloween, and normally about this time we'd be in the thick of our costume contest, but instead we're just happy to get outside and say hi to some of the great folks who came down to say hi to us. got stranded, somebody spending her sweet 16 in new york city and not by choice. we've seen a lot of smiles on

the plaza this morning, and coming up, we will tell you about some last-minute halloween koss teams if you're stuck at home and you want to try to pull together a costume, what you can do. quick and easy is the name of the game there. >> very nice. >> plus, we'll show you how to turn the pumpkin seeds from your jack-o'-lantern into some yummy snacks that will last you days and days. >> these are simple. from pumpkins to apples you know the new ipad mini comes out on friday, but guess what? we have one in our studio right now, there it is. we are going to talk about what it can do, what it can't do, the price of it and whether it's worth it. we'll be doing that in just a couple of minutes. >> suddenly al roker wishes he were right back here in the studio, as much as he loved covering the storm. >> i might get my hands on this before al roker, that will be a first. >> al, good morning. we'll tell you all about it. >> curse you, matt lauer. >> you'll be the second guy on our block to own one. >> i can't believe it.

all right. let's take a look at that's going on the next couple of days starting with today. we are dealing with sandy making its way through pennsylvania. look@the temperatures right now. cold air working its way in. the temperatures in the 30s and low 0s. as we move into the day, the temperatures are not going to get much higher. we are staying very, very chilly and going on into the next few days for our friends who really don't have power. this is not great news. high temperatures in the upper 40s to 50s. overnight, we are looking at overnight lows dropping into the 30s. for today, rain, showers, heavy thunderstorms in the pacific northwest with mountain snows. still windy around the great lakes with wraparound showers hanging around in new england. plenty of sunshine in the gulf

coast. plenty of sunshine making its way through the southwest as well. as we see in the distance, we have a coast guard helicopter checking things out along the shoreline here. we have been seeing different aircraft flying around taking part in obviously assessing damage and just making sure things are safe around the region. of course, the president is coming in later today to tour the area with governor chris christie. >> good morning. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. it is a winter scene in the mountains. this is the scene in garrett county at the river lodge. this was taken late yesterday afternoon. they got heavy, wet snow there. a couple feet of it. it's causing a lot of problems. look, there's more snow about to move there into western maryland out of pennsylvania. locally,

>> that's your latest weather. now back to my nemesis. >> your archnemesis. mr. roker, thanks very much. let's get a few birthday greetings from our good friend will lard scott. >> put a happy birthday smile and your happy birthday face and take a look at the jar spins about. happy birthday, hubert hendauer and he proud hi served the united states navy during world war ii. god lost navy. navy memorial is going to be 25 years old here, down in pennsylvania. silver springs, maryland, neighboring down, right across the rad here, esther lavigne 100 years old. sweet esther, very interested in politics and all kinds of issues. take a look at cruz laura from austin, texas. 100 years. always, always looks dapper.

handsome fellow with a smile on his beautiful face. sweet marjorie sandal. she i 100 old today, and she loves spending all kind of time in her garden to grow things to eat. henry, love henry, henry preston of chattanooga tennessee, is 100 years old today. speaking of longevity, always love the lord. louise peartree, partridge in a, 100 years old, great dancer and loves to have all kind of moves, cha, cha, cha, the mamba and eddie seitlin from birm ham, alabama, 106 years old today, and he loves rooting for the crimson tide. that's it. that's all. new york is just up the road a piece. >> all right.

willard, thanks very much. apple's newest tablet the ipad mini doesn't hit stores until friday but today we're getting a sneak peek in our studio. >> i kind of love this. our technology expert got her hands on the much-hyped gadget. katie, good morning. >> good morning. >> by point of reference this is a normal ipad, this is the mini and then you can compare it to the size -- that's an iphone 5. >> i just held it. i loved it. i hugged it. what is the difference, i mean, from a technological standpoint between this ipad and the mini ipad? >> it's obviously as soon as you can pick it up you can tell how light it is. in terms of features, obviously much smaller. 7.9 inches as compared to the ipad 4 which is 9.7 inches, 20% thin and 53% lighter and jam packed inside there are the features. kind of like an ipad 2 so front facing, rear facing, 5 mega pixel camera. i was impressed by the battery life, really nerdy. had ten-plus hours. a really nice feature, but in

terms of everything you would expect from an ipad it's right in there. fun size. >> as i continue to play carol merrill, if you've got one of these, why do you need it? >> a one-size-fits-all. it's your choice, another option for the consumer, if you wanted something more portable that's seven-inch form factor you now have choices. >> put it in your purse or your murse in your case. >> in terms of having a more portable option, noticed a big difference, use it in bed, handle it with one hand. >> the price point is exclusive though especially with all the other lower price tablets? >> all these 7-inch tablets on the market for $200 that are farrelly comparable. the price point is a bit high. the big kicker here is people

love apple, they love the ecosystem. familiar with apps and itunes. >> aren't there a bunch of number of pre-orders? >> already pushed back. price point isn't hurting at all. >> starts at 329 because if you want all the bells and whistles. >> correct. >> katie, thank you very much. >> have to really spend for my christmas present. thank you. coming up next on this halloween morning, creating last-minute costumes you can easily put together at home but first, this is "today" on nbc. anncr: washington's revolving door.

george allen'. politicians go in. corporate lobbyists come out. in the senate, allen took money from big corporate interests... voting their way... for tax breaks for companies that ship virginia... jobs overseas. when we voted him out, allen cashed in. now allen wants another round. supporting a plan that will cost us more jobs. virginia can't trust george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee is... responsible for the content of this advertising.

when we think no one is looking. is what we do... mitt romney: believe that they are victims. anncr: mitt romney thought no one was looking when... he attacked forty-seven percent of americans. his companies shipped jobs overseas. his plan cuts millionaires' taxes, but raises yours. he'll voucherize medicare... and make catastrophic cuts to education. so remember what romney said... and what his plan would do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. back now at 8:40 on this halloween morning, if your plans got sidetracked by the storm and you're procroft nating, guess what, not too late to get into the spirit of halloween. elizabeth mayhew has fun, homemade costume ideas. you've really pulled this together at the last minute for us, right? >> got this call at 4:00, 4:30

so i really had to scrounge, and i just think everyone needs to know, new york is closed, like most stores. i couldn't even find a place to buy a t-shirt so i really had to scrounge my closet, through my bins, craft staff, just to come up with it. >> if you're at home saying what am i going to do, there are options. first of all, what are you? >> i am 50 shades of gray. >> i happen to recently painted a house gray, this is a free costume. wearing a gray dress, my daughter's gray sweater and i threaded the paint shades through a ribbon and tied it around my neck and there you go. >> got your clever krogs on this morning. >> caroline, come on out, and i bet we can get what she's dressed at. >> caroline, cha what can i do at the dress store, took a pair of pajama bottoms and glued smarties on them. she is smarty pants. takes a little bit of thinking. can eat them afterwards. >> a little bit of glasses to

complete the look if you've got the look. >> thanks so much. >> let's bring out our next model. he's got a clever costume, too. see if we can figure this one out. >> a orange t-shirt, went online, just googled pi symbol and copied it in pink and he is pumpkin pye. >> now we're got miss lucy, shall we say, pretty as a picture. >> everybody has a frame in their house. take whatever is in it, take the glass out and put it on your face, hold it like that and you are a self-portrait. >> very cute. >> and all i did was cut out a little label for her name underneath it, and that's it. >> lucy completes the picture with her cute smile. thank you, lucy. >> okay. now we've got our knocks med el george, we all recognize his outfit. >> george is easy because my son has this shirt. it's a red and white striped shirt, a ski hat and then we happened who doesn't walk out of

a movie once in a while with 3-d glasses, that's what those, are punched the lenses out, that's it straight from the closet. >> where's waldo. >> thank you so much. >> now a couple of costumes here. we've got baylin and kozmo. >> one is a black-eyed pea, looks like a real black eye and a cutout pea on his black shoe and kazmu is a split p. we took a zip-up jersey and cut a "p" in half. >> do you have the sparkly stuff around the house or did you get it at the drug store? >> got it at walgreens. >> they have all kinds of -- go to the craft aisle and those are close, that's baylin's ski shirt. >> the "p" brothers. thank you so much. >> and then we've got an election-themed costume. >> okay. this is my friend charlie. >> hi, charlie, and he -- this is actually his costume. he is an undecided voter, so i

actually did have these, this is the one thing where you might say, wow, eluz beth, where did you get those, from fat boy, them getting ready for the election but tons of election paraphernalia out there. >> what is fat boy? >> fat boy is an online fat boy.com and you get big printouts of famous people or just go online and print out two images and put one in each hand and make one for each hand. undecided. >> thank you, charlie. five more days to make up your mind or six. >> thank you so much, elizabeth. let's have all our costumes come out one more time. appreciate it. up next, we'll stay in the halloween theng theme and show you how to turn the leftover pumpkin seeds into snacks. you how to turn the leftover pumpkin seeds into snacks. gill simmons in virginia, we know education means opportunity. that's why tim kaine expanded pre-k... championed higher ed and job training... helping make virginia "the best state to raise a child." but george allen has not made our kids a priority.

as governor, he tried to cut funding for public schools. in washington, allen voted to end tax deductions for college tuition. and now, a budget plan that devastates k-12 classrooms-- all to pay for even more tax breaks for the wealthy. seiu cope is responsible for the content of this ad.

if there's one thing most of you have in your homes this halloween morning it's pumpkins,

and their seeds can make for quick and very easy snacks. gail simmons from "food & wine" magazine and braffa's "top chef" is here to show us how it's done. happy halloween. >> thanks for having me. >> a lot of people throw the seeds out. i think the pumpkin seeds are the best part, i love them and so many ways to use them and cook with them. if you have an oven you can use this halloween, i say save your pumpkin seeds. >> what they look like in the pumpkin. >> exactly. >> here's the seed inside the seed. >> these are hulled pumpkin seeds raw and these are toasted. i'll show you how to taest them. >> these are good plain. >> put them on salads, toss them with other nuts. i've toesed them in a little bit of oil and put some cinnamon and sugar into them. >> making a sweet version of toasted pumpkin seeds. >> and later on i'll show you how to make a salty persian. >> this i'll use in a pumpkin seed and chocolate chip scone.

>> because you put oil on them you don't have to put anything on the tray. >> they come out like that. >> boy, they shrink a lot. >> shrink a little bit and also get nice and brown and toasty, so you hold these for me. >> dump them in there. i have a little bit of sugar, flour, baking, sugar, salt, i'm going to put my butter in, and then i'll use my fingers, don't be shy here, and you're going to course it out like this, and it becomes a really course meal. looks like this right here, and now toss those seeds right in there, okay, great, and with them i'll add some chocolate chips. >> what kind of pumpkin seeds are those? >> my favorite. >> i'll make them all and then i'll mixed it with whipped eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. comes together in a beautiful dough. >> a pasty dough. what's the consistency you're looking for? >> very sticky and when you mix it up it should come together easily and once it's around i'll

roll it out on to my tray. >> is it really that simple or you have to work that further? >> you don't actually. can work it together with your hands once you roll it out on to the dough, and then what i'm going to do is bring it all together like this, into a round, very, very simple. >> that is a big scone. >> this is one giant scone. >> if i cut it into wedges, you can just cut it into wedges like this, and then you're going to take each one. >> you really want it that lose. >> you can mix it a little bit more, but we're on a deadline here. >> fine. >> and then brush it with a bill bit of buttermilk. there's buttermilk in the recipe as well. i'll sprinkle them with a beautiful coarse sugar and more of the cinnamon toasted pumpkin seeds and i'll take each one and put them on my tray, bake them at 400 and they come out

beautiful, shiny and delicious. >> those are beautiful. >> have one. >> please. >> made a version of the pumpkin seeds. instead of with sugar and cinnamon, use salt and cayenne version. i love those as well. these are great on salad, tossing with mixed nuts. like to eat them plain and there's a great way to use up your pumpkin seeds. >> i'm not the biggest fan of scones, these are really good. >> chocolate is good, pumpkin seeds fun and nutty. >> and you didn't spill anything on yourself. these are pretty good. >> gail simmons, thanks very much: >> the tenth season of "top chef" premeals thursday on our >> the tenth season of "top chef" premeals thursday on our sister network bravo but first, it's my coffee when i want it. you press a button, you have great dunkin' coffee. i got my coffee for the morning, i got my dunkin' k-cup packs for the rest of the day. only available at dunkin' donuts restaurants.

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i'm drinkin' a dunkin' latte. i'm in love with my dunkin' latte. it is a treat. they're packed with flavor. it's my kind of latte. try the simply delicious latte everyone can enjoy. america runs on dunkin'! well, so many people on the east coast are dealing with the impact of sandy, but we are happy to say a lot of are you still get night halloween spirit, and we actually asked some of you to send in your photos of your costumes. you certainly delivered. we'll take a look at a couple of them we have gotten this morning. what is that? i like the dog >> i know. >> it's snow white, i think. >> yeah, that's snow white. >> looks like the evil version. >> charlize theron version. >> the dog's costume is pretty cute. >> the dogs have no choice in

things like that. >> look at the owl, that's very cute. >> pretty well done. >> i will say that i always look forward to halloween here on the plaza, except the dressing up myself part, but i always love to see the creativity of other people's costumes. i miss that this year. >> this is our viewer mandy. she is a fortune teller, complete with the boots. >> oh, yeah. like when you would go to the arcade as a kid. >> oh, that's pretty cool. >> what is that? >> oh, i know this one. this is the old ball and chain, is that what it is? >> yeah, i guess. >> oh, no. >> that has raymond rodriguez all locked up. >> next, the goodyear blimp. >> simple, to the point. don't have to guess. >> i'm always amazed that people can create these costumes. >> some are quite crafty. >> mr. and mrs. fox, shauna and

spencer sent that one in. we'll go back to the '80s for pacman, reminds me of the '80s. >> a lot of people watching right now, kids have no idea what that is. that was the video game to end all video games when we were younger. >> the world's greatest games. >> i love that. >> like the couples, the duets. >> the whole family getting into the act. they are flip flops >> i thought they were turkeys. >> that you would draw as a kid. >> when you look at them really quickly, they do look like turkeys. >> and i like how each toe has a nice pedicure. >> and these are the x-men family members, superheros, tonya stevenson and her family, rogue, mystique, storm, wolverine and the little boy in front is cyclops. >> look at nails on that guy. scratch my back. >> and last but not least the mary poppins family. >> and the little boy on the end

with the cane. so cute. >> very cute. >> and, again, we apologize to you folks at home and the people here in the new york area we did not do our halloween costumes this this year. save it up. make it even better and do it next year. the events of the last couple of days put us on the sidelines this year. >> definitely. want to try to keep the spirit going. creative ways to sell wait halloween with your kids, especially if you've been impacted by the storm. >> first a look at your local news, weather and a lot more. yo storm. >> first a look at your local news, weather and a lot more. es impacted by the storm. >> first a look at your local news, weather and a lot more.

breaking news at 8:56. a crash on the outer loop is causing huge delays in maryland. let's go to danella sealock with the traffic. danella, what's going on? >> a 13-mile back up on the beltway. the crash as you approach new hampshire avenue for several hours now. the right lane and left shoulder

lane get by the crash in the center of the roadway. significant delays. here is arena drive, sluggish the entire way. from route 50 to i-95, only 10 miles per hour. back to you. >> what a mess. thanks so much. a quick break and the weather is up next.

some welcome sunshine returned. getting a few sprinkles north of washington. might have a passing sprinkle over the next couple hours and sunshine. highs reach l mid-50 z. low 40s now. dry all the way into the weekend. looks like highs in the 50s with morning lows, 30s. thursday all the way into sunday with sunshine each day. it's the way it looks. >> thank

we're back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning. it's the 31st day of october, 2012. boy, does that look good. the sun is shining here in new york city. first full day that we've seen of that in the last several days. of course, october 31st means it is halloween morning, but while a lot of people across the country and their children will be celebrating tonight, a lot of people in this part of the country will not. obviously their towns have been really hardly affected or hard hit by the hurricane and then tropical storm sandy, so it's going to be an unusual halloween for a lot of people. i'm matt lauer along with

savannah guthrie and willie geist. we didn't do our halloween celebration here this morning, but our thoughts are with the people who are getting to celebrate. meanwhile, the destruction is evident. 6 million people or more are waking up without power today. you've got homes submerged all along the jersey shore, along the coastline of new york and connecticut. the president is going to get a firsthand look at this today as he tours some of the hardest hit portions of new jersey with the governor of that state, chris christie, so we're going to have more on that. >> he'll be getting an aerial tour, and natalie's been getting an aerial look at some of the damage along the jersey shore, and it really gives you a vision of the scope and magnitude of what's happened along the shoreline so we're going to check in with natalie in just a few minutes. >> as you said, matt, a lot of people celebrating halloween and a lot doing it differently. hard to think about candy at a moment like this, but we'll give you tips to be creative. maybe in the wake of the storm we'll do it a little bit differently including a little last-minute pumpkin decorating

to make it fun for the kids, despite the weather. >> all right. but first, as savannah mentioned, natalie is touring some of the hard hit areas by air, and i believe she's flying over hoboken, new jersey, which also happens to be where she lives. natalie, good morning. >> good morning to you, matt. well, of course, i have heard all of the heartbreaking stories from friends, and now i'm getting to see it firsthand from overhead. as you look down, this is the south and west end of town, but much of what you're seeing with cars and people walking in, you know, pretty much about a foot of water, some places it's even two to three feet deep as we've been able to see from up above, but this is a view that is pretty much seen throughout half of this city. it's a very densely populated city. about 50,000 people live here, but about 20,000 or 25,000 people have been stranded according to hoboken's mayor and did not evac a.they are stuck in

their homes. the mayor did call in the national guard, and we are getting our first view that the national guard has arrived. we saw a truck move into town. hopefully being able to get some troops there who may be able to help with the rescue and help some of the residents that are still stuck in their homes. but you see just to give you a perspective of this city, it is, as i mentioned, a very small city, about one mile square, to be exact, but it is so densely populated. when you think about half of those people or so are stuck in their homes not able to go anywhere, it's a pretty scary situation there. now, of course, most people also don't have power. there are some who do, and for the lucky few, i know from neighbors and friends, that they are taking in anybody that they can to help out and a lot of people volunteering as well, but the good news is for the first time we're seeing the national guard arrive here and hopefully getting some much-needed assistance to this city of hoboken. matt? >> natalie, should also mention

that people without power, often that means they are without heat as well, and the weather has taken a turn to the cold side. it's brisk. it's going to be brisk over the weekend, and that's going to make life even more miserable for the people trying to bundle up without heat. >> you speak of the weather, want to check in with al roker in atlantic city. parts of the boardwalk there just obliterated by the storm. al, good morning again to you. >> yeah, good morning, savannah. in fact, there are parts of the boardwalk that are fine, that are untouched, but down at this end this boardwalk has been destroyed, and, in fact, there are parts of the boardwalk that have floated down and are on the main drag of atlantic avenue here in atlantic city but there is cleanup going on. as you look beyond, you can see dump trucks, front-end loaders working, backhoes, all trying to clean up the mess, that happened thanks to sandy. much of this part of atlantic city still without power. we saw power crews working a couple of blocks down.

the mayor says they are going to rebuild. they don't know when, but the fact of the matter is this town took a direct hit from sandy, and at this time yesterday a good portion of it, at least 70% of atlantic city was underwat water. most of that water is now done. good news for folks in new york city, and as you move up the shoreline up to seaside heights and point pleasant beach where we were the last couple of days, still a mess. people are without power. the barrier islands have physically been changed. i mean, they physically have been changed. this is very reminiscent of the hurricane of 1938 which physically changed the coastline of long island and connecticut permanently. sandy probably will have done the same thing for the shoreline of new jersey. willie? >> all right, thanks. we heard new jersey governor chris christie say yesterday the jersey shore of my youth is no more. al mentioned seaside heights.

that's where nbc's lester holt is for us this morning. what are you seeing today? >> reporter: i'm in point pleasa beach not far away but seeing lots of what al is seeing, lots and lots of damage. this is some of what president obama will likely see on his tour here today. i'm standing at a restaurant in a beachside motel, and i'm standing in sand. it's got to be three or four feet, think about it. this is the breakfast counter right here. on a typical morning like this people would be in here enjoying a cup of coffee, breakfast, maybe watching you guys on tv and checking out the view. by the way, i stayed at this hotel last night, breakfast not included and certainly not power either, but the bed was comfortable. let me show you out here. the sand was swept in by the surge. it goes in block after block after block here. there are homes, vacation homes. there are year-rouyn residents that live here, condos. i found it interesting. this clock up here is one of the few things that was actually running. must be on battery because it actually hats right time, eastern time right now.

this is an area where people have been starting to come today to view the damage for themselves. we mentioned the president and the governor will be touring the jersey shore, but people who live here are touring it, and they are seeing it through different eyes. it's personal. they live here, and now they suffer here. they watch as al pointed out, watch this coastline dramatically change, their lives and homes, many filled with sand and water. the flooding went on for blocks and blocks. they will rebuild here, but as the governor had pointed out, it probably won't be the same. police are manning checkpoints all around this area. they are very concerned about looting. we haven't had any reports of looting, but it's obviously a very, very big concern. so everyone right now in the light of day. the winds are gone. the skies are clear, now getting their first real look at the amount of damage that has occurred along this coast. willie? >> all right, lester holt in point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. i come from new jersey. people seeing these aerial pictures on television this morning, many of them for the first time, devastated. it's breathtaking footage.

some people seeing their own homes on national television. >> hard to get your arms around it until you see it that way. let's go inside and tamron hall standing by at the news desk with the other stories making headlines. good morning to you. >> good morning, everyone. sandy has thrown a major obstacle on the campaign trail with less than a week to go until election day. president obama is foregoing his scheduled events in battleground states to tour the storm damage in new jersey. he returns to the campaign trail thursday, and while partisan attacks have gone largely quiet in the wake of the storm, republican candidate mitt romney is back to drumming up support today at three events in florida. he plans a major rally friday night in ohio to kick off the home stretch of the campaign. the teen who allegedly confessed to killing 10-year-old colorado schoolgirl jessica ridgeway has been charged as an adult with 17 counts, including four murder charges. prosecutors also say 17-year-old austin sigg sexually assaulted jessica ridgeway f.convicted as

an adult, he faces life in prison. his defense team is still trying to send the case to juvenile court. nasa has compiled a first ever list of minerals found on another anet. the curiosity rover on mars finds the soil on the red planet remarkably similar to the volcanic sand found in hawaii. this discovery will help scientists figure out if our neighbor in the solar system could once have supported life. and yet another shark attack in california, but unlike last week's victim the 25-year-old surfer bitten on tuesday has survived. he's been hospitalized and is in fair condition. fellow surfers helped rescue the man who was suffering from a 14-inch bight from what experts say was likely a great white shark. the city by the bay is shutting down today for a ticker tape parade to honor the 2012 world series champion san francisco giants. the celebration is build as a family-friendly alcohol-free event. many fans are expected to show

up in costume since the parade is happening on halloween and the team colors are orange and black. and marry cory booker did not disappoint during sandy and is still going today. relatives posted tweet, they could not reach because of the flood, booker replied to each worried individual on my way to check in on your family now. one resident wrote about a tree falling on the family house. mayor booker headed to the scene and wrote back. i stopped by and had a good talk with them and they are fine. and when not going door to door he was trying to convince homeless people to get inside a shelter. when one resident offered him a stiff drink as a reward, he implied that he's in for a firm milk shake instead. it is now ten minutes after the hour, so matt, savannah and willie, if peter parker is

spiderman, super cory, what's his alter ego,. >> he's a good man. he's a good guy. knows how to get it done. let get a check now of the weather with al down in atlantic city. >> tamron went with salty-tongued barguy, wow. that is so random. >> no, no. listen, peter parker is, you know, spider-man. clark kent is superman, so if cory booker is the superhero he has to have an alter ego that's different. never mind. >> okay. >> good to talk to you, tomorrowon. always good seeing you. hey, this just in. the u.s. navy is sending three helicopter carrier ships right off of new york city to provide platforms for the coast guard civilian aircraft and the national guard in case they need

landing spots to help carry out rescues. that's good news. let's take a look at see whatoo we have as far as our weather is concerned. sandy is moving out through pennsylvania. the wraparound bringing rain and snow. west virginia and virginia may pick up another one to two feet of snow out of this thing. as you take a look, we are going to look atmore rain and more snow. winds are going to be a problem, too. look at the winds gusting today into tomorrow. still in the 20s and 30-mile-per-hour range as we go through the day today and into tomorrow morning. obviously the winds will die down. in the meantime, it is going to be a breezy day. again, that snow is going to be a big deal down through west virginia and parts of the virginias as well. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck ord woods. >> that snow in maryland showing

up on storm team 4 radar. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. west virginia up into washington county and frederick county, maryland. sprinkles south of washington from stafford county west. there's a chill in the air. low to mid-40s in the region. we climb to the low and mid 50s with sunshine in and out. dry weather >> and that's your latest weather. savannah, willie? >> all right, al, thanks. coming up next, celebrating halloween even in the midst of the storm. we'll have that story right after this. get ready for a feeling of clean like nothing else. extreme clean from aquafresh. it showers your whole mouth with rich micro-active foam. thousands of germ-killing bubbles seek out hard to reach places and help kill the sources of bad breath then rinse clean away leaving a cool tingling that just won't quit

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yes, it is halloween and millions of kids look forward to it. how can you look create sniff jill martin is a "today" and "us weekly" contributor. doesn't feel like halloween. >> i know. >> but we're adults and for kids it's the bad weather. >> around the country people are celebrating but we have no power. and we thought what can we do for people without power with things in the house so we can celebrate as much as you can. >> before we get created you found out celeb favorites and what they like to give up. first up, chris rock. >> celebrate halloween, just be careful. these are some of the candy that these celebrities have in the house and probably have a lot of because we've all been eating our candy in the house. loves to have candy corn, one of the only times of the year, the only time that you can get it and gives out almond joys and snickers. >> all right. pretty good. nice choice. i like that he gives the snickers because i love chocolate. >> next up heidi klum, all about

halloween, her big halloween. >> does a huge party this year. >> and postponed it tonight obviously in light what have happened, but she always has peanut m & ms and regular m & ms in the house. >> very nice. >> and i love that she eats that. >> may postpone her halloween party until christmas and make it a spooky christmas. >> saw that. >> gloria and emilio estefan are in miami and they are trick-or-treating. they give out these unicef boxes which allows kids to collect money and donate to people around the world. >> socially aware. bet and howard stern, intriguing. >> also new yorkers. >> so people are trick-or-treating, but they give out a lot of things, everyone is like us, they give out snickers and mounds and rasinettes and do thes. kids are allowed to come and take as much as they can carry in their hand. >> love to have a psychologist analyze what kinds of candies you give in relation to your personality, rasinettes, old-school movie theser.

>> like regular people and give out candy we all love. >> last-minute things can you do to entertain the kids in the house. you have theodorea and cannon. >> boyfriend and girlfriend. >> so i've heard from theodorea. we'll talk about that later because she's 2 years old with a boyfriend and i'm 42 without one. but we digress. >> i'm actually staying with theodorea. i said last night, if we only had the basic things in the house what can we make for people without power. cannon, that's you, show us what we're doing here. >> making the bread. >> got sweet bread. >> and then some halloween candy we made all of these different faces. >> very nice. >> that is super cute, super cute. >> cannon did a great job. >> very hands on. very hands on, thank you. and next up, theodorea. slept in her rapunzel bird and we were very busy making her own candy apples, an apple with a fork in it. >> i'll help you out. >> in honey. >> roll it in honey and whatever cereal you have in the house.

>> right. >> did a good job. >> i think you have to be under ten to bite into this, otherwise your teeth will be out of your head. >> you'll have to show it. >> your apple, super cute. want to hang on to my apple. okay. a real winner over there as a boyfriend, theodorea. moving on to the carve-free pumpkins, right? >> you have pumpkins in the house and you think how can i do this now and theodorea actually taught me this. these were outside their apartment already. >> i love these. >> she took her mr. potato head, right, and took all the different parts and put them in the dump win with the glitter, and you want to show us how to do this one. >> oh, okay. i'll pick you up. >> a lady bug in go-go boots, and now we're making a little "star wars." >> if you do not have power, you have the basics, still ways to have fun at home.

>> awesome job, guys, can i get a high five. thanks for coming, guys. whoa. >> that kid's tough. all right, jill, thank you very much. thanks, kiddies. coming up in the next half hour, five fun facts about halloween, but first these messages. why are you what -- [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe

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i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can. that's why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. ally bank. your money needs an ally. still to come on "today," still time to get into the holiday spirit and entertain the kids today. >> a few easy last-minute decorating ideas for your pumpkins. guess what, no carving skills required. good news for us, tamron. first your local news and weather. ♪

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nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally. breaking news at 9:26. a kroosh on the outer loop causing huge delays in maryland. danella sealock has the first 4 traffic. >> aaron, this is happening just now. the accident is in the process of clearing. it was blocking most of the road here. now, just the right lane is blocked. the accident activity was moved over to the right shoulder lane. let's talk delays. this is the outer loop of the beltway at new hampshire avenue. it's a slow trip to get to i-95. that accident is just clearing. they are at 10 miles per hour. back to you. >> thank you. looking live, the fore

anncr: five hundred and thirty seven. the number o. newscaster: florida is too close to call... anncr: the difference between what was... and what could have been. so this year, if you're thinking that your vote doesn't count. that it won't matter. well, back then, there were probably at least 537 people... who felt the same way. make your voice heard. vote. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

good morning. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein.

sunshine back today. it will be with us off and on tomorrow and the weekend as well. chilly mornings. a slight chance of scattered sprinkles. back to you, aaron. >> thank you. >> t[ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

they are the bad boys from boston. they have been rocking for 40 years, and come friday a first for them. a live concert from aerosmith on our plaza. first morning show appearance. we're going to definitely be putting a smile on people's faces after a tough week around here. aerosmith this friday only on "today." if you can get down here safely, we hope you do because it's a great way to finish off the week. >> how do you get a row, up that early, especially a rocker who has been doing it that long. >> i have a theory, stay up all night. >> don't go to bed.

>> this is not like their normal getting-up time, just saying. good morning, everyone, i'm savannah guthrie alongside tamron hall and willie geist. >> much of halloween around the country is going on as planned, but if you have not had a chance to get into the trick or treat spirit, we'll help trick out your pumpkin with easy decorating ideas. >> can a pumpkin be tricked out, definitely speaking? >> put a little bling, is that hip to say? gold grills on your pumpkin. >> it can be tricked out. >> a little halloween fun with five facts you may not know about halloween candy and a surprising admission by tamron hall about her favorite candy. >> controversy, controversy. >> really. the battle ebb sues, by the way. the presidential election just six days away. we'll take a look back at the drama of the past election night as it all played out on live television. >> looking forward to t.before that we'll check in with mr. al roker in hard-hit atlantic city,

new jersey. al, good morning again to you. >> good morning, guys, and i'm betting that tamron's favorite candy is candy corn. >> well, that's my guess since she said it was not a good choice. >> al roker is a wise man, that's all i'll say. >> because al thinks i'm corny, get it. what do you think about that, al? >> anyway, okay. well, i -- i think that tamron is very sweet, and so is candy corn, so there you interest it. let's show you what we've got looking ahead over the next 48 hours. of course, we still have the remnants of sandy to deal with, spinningdeal with spinning ther throughout pennsylvania and that is bringing some more rain, wraparound showers and mountain snows to virginia and west virginia. we are also looking at a gorgeous day along the west coast. we have showers and thunderstorms moving into the pacific northwest coast. clouds around the plains. beautiful day around the gulf coast. for tomorrow, we expect to see more rain in the pacific northwest coast.

showers finally getting out of new england slowly, but sure lie, due to sandy. plenty of sunshine through the mid plains into the gulf coast. few hit or miss showers in southern florida. what's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the wods. >> good morning. the radar showing sprinkles north and west of washington and to the south and well. they are rotating around the base of what was sandy. it's way up in western new york state now, bringing snow in maryland. areas of green getting sprinkles, frederick into west virginia and farther south. then later today, sunshine in and out. a blustery wind is going to be with us tomorrow. >> that's your latest weather and willie geist agrees with me. those little candy bars, those are not fun-sized. candy bars would be a candy bar three times the normal size. that's fun. >> exactly.

we want giant heath bars. >> bigger than your head. >> all right, al. thank you. coming up next, the perfect last-minute pumpkin, no carving required, but it will be tricked out, right after this. these fellas used capital one venture miles for a golf getaway. double miles you can actually use... but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with the capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use. what's in your wallet? alec jr? it was a gift. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

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and the kids always eat their vegetables. because the salad there is always served with the original hidden valley ranch. it's the way ranch is supposed to taste. and try italians and vinaigrettes from hidden valley. we have everything from painted frankenstein to glittered gords. karen, good morning to see you. >> good to see you. >> these are actually last minute, but they all look like you put a lot of effort into them. >> they look really fun but not hard to do at home with your kids. >> i love that they are no

carving, no mess to clean up, no nothing. >> no carve. all about that this year, new trends. parents looking for fun ways to embellish their pumpkins. >> let's launch in with well spin. how did you do that? >> made a spider web using the black roofing nails, can you use brass or black push pins and tie a piece of yarn and then it's just about looping. >> oh, cute. >> whatever design you want to make. >> yeah. we're doing a spider web, but, you know, kids can get creati , creative,ance once you have the design, the web shape, you can follow up with the yarn. >> i love it. >> and get a scary spieder. >> no mess going on there. >> no mess there. >> next out. >> you have candy tricked out pumpkins, halloween. >> willie was doubtful that you could trick out a pumpkin. >> well, i hope we're proving that you can. >> okay. >> we used licorice lips and curly hair for the mom, jelly

beans and marshmallows, and over here we have our kid pumpkin, necco wafer eyes. >> how do you attach these things? >> using hot glue and if you want add this bow. hot glue will create a really quick fast bond which is important if you're using candy that's heavier. >> and limited time. >> a nice big dab in the middle and can stick it on and she will be all set for the front porch. >> adorable. quick dry and good for parents, once you put the candy on, you can't eat it so it's diet friendly, too. >> and tease are freaky streaks. >> my favorite. these are a lot lighter than regular pumpkins because they are fake pumpkins, they are fun-kins. >> i didn't want to expose you. >> yeah. >> the idea is you can reuse it year after year. >> nice. >> we'll make one of they come in white and orange. can buy them on funkins doesn't come. want to grab a bottle. can't go wrong. add the streaks, watch them drip

down. then it will drip. >> is this easy to clean up. >> no mistakes. >> keep going, the more colors and streaks, the bet ter looks. >> green happens to be my favorite. >> and let it dry overnight. >> these are pretty cool. this is a frankenpumpkin. >> our category called a dressed up pumpkin because it's all about costumes where everyone can get in on the action, frankenstein, our witch, craft balm, adhesive, really's it for kids to cut out shapes for the eyes and mouth, for the witch's hair. >> this is a witch. >> and we turn her on her side to use the stem. >> very clever. >> thinking outside the box, and i want to show you how it make the hair here because this is pretty cool. >> took streamer and cut them into 12-inch pieces and like you would curling ribbon, take your scissors. >> there you go. >> if it cuts, give her layers so just go with, it and when

you're done you're going to simply put some scotch tape on there. >> okay. >> keep it on top. >> go. >> and top it off with the fun hat. >> and she's not a witch without her green wart so grab this and peel the back off and add it here and she will be all set. >> i like that. >> giving the pumpkins costumes, too. all stuff can you get at craft stores's >> i last up on the list. >> we have our etched pumpkins, not carving, etching away the skin of the pumpkin. using this paper piercer that we got from createforless.com. put the template on top and poke holes on the outer line. >> because it's sharp patients need to be around. >> something kids can help out with. >> and you use your etching tools to chip away. >> glitter pumpkin. >> topping it with craft glue and sprinkle on the glitter. >> karen, great ideas and i like

it. last minute, not a lot of cleanup. >> not at all. >> a pleasure seeing you. >> thank you. up next the drama of past election nights as they played out on tv. >> and at the end of the evening it didn't look quite that way until the closing hours. that was me... the day i learned i had to start insulin for my type 2 diabetes. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery... my way. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening.

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publishing called "election nig night, a television history, 1948 to 2012." the author is a tv editor at "tv guide." steve, good morning. >> good morning. >> what is an enhanced e-book as opposed to a regular e-book. >> this book tells the story of election coverage as it was told on television over the years, and it has, if you look at the book on a nook or an ipad, you will actually see over an hour and a half of video from the nbc archives that we can even demonstrate it right here. this is the 1948 call on truman, and when you get to that chapter, there's an actual videotape that you can see and call up on the book and you can actually watch what it looked like that first night, that first national election that was covered on nbc. >> so you've mined really the nbc archives, video, photographs. it's just a rich cap industry. if you're a political junkie or

history junkie, you love this stuff. another one we want to jump to 1980, ronald reagan winning a landslide victory over jimmy carter. >> what's interesting about this is that the electoral map that we use today to see red states and blue states was actually created at nbc news in 1976. in 1980 when they used it, republicans were blue and the democrats were red, and it was that way for a while until 1996. what's interesting about the 1980 race is that reagan's sweep across the country led david brinkley to say that the map looked like a suburban swimming pool, and there are a lot of fun moments like that throughout the book where you really get the look and feel of what election night was like over these different areas. >> brinkley, chancellor and brokaw sitting in front of that map, 2000, who can forget, that and really probably the iconic moment of that election night was the late great tim russert with the white board. >> so much confusion on the

ground that night with the calls in florida and the tight race and the electoral college and really the simplest way for tim russert to explain it to have the white dry erase board, and -- and that iconic moment when he wrote florida, florida, florida on it. we all now know what that means, and one of those white boards ended up in the smithsonian institution. it was such a landmark in television history. >> for all the technology we had available it all came down that night to tim's white board. >> the simplest way to express it because it really -- it was almost a tv program about adding at that point. >> in our most recent presidential election 2008 brian williams did something pretty unique on election night. >> brian knew it would be a very special night. they went into the night having a pretty good idea that barack obama was going to win, and how do you tell this story of the first african-american president? it was such a monumental event what. brian did was he got a poster, the type of poster you would see in classrooms across america

with 43 white -- 43 ovals on the poster of 43 past presidents, all of them white americans and brian's message that night was tonight the oval is going to change, and it was really a way to connect with the viewer and also a personal expression of how really monumental that night was. >> and now i understand you're going to update this e-book based on what happens six nights from now? >> the book will have a chapter about 2012. if you buy it before the election, the update will come -- you can get the update a few weeks later at the end of -- probably by the end of november, and it will have coverage and video of the 2012 race. >> given four years we've only scratched the surface. cannot wait to dig into this. steve vitagglio, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up, indulge a bit. five fun facts about

anncr: which do you believe? what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

handfuls of halloween candy will be handed out tonight while kids fill up their bags. >> but don't feel guilty. here are some five fun facts you may not know with sweet tweets is our diet and nutrition expert. i love this segment because it makes me feel good about all the chocolate i'm going to eat tonight. >> chocolate candy, a good thick in moderation, but here is one fact that i think you'll really be surprised at. >> okay. >> the top selling candy in america is candy corn. >> the reason why we're not surprised by this, willie and i have been in a big battle over candy corn. he doesn't get why people love the corn. >> here's what i would say about the corn, if i may. you eat it like three days a year. would you ever eat candy corn in june? it's a seasonal treat. >> which is so weird. >> you don't really love it, you love it now. >> but it makes me feel like i'm celebrating halloween and call. >> like christmas music in the summer, just doesn't happen. >> 20 million pounds every year

get sold, 20 million pounds. >> i eat 10 million pounds. >> okay. >> next up on the list is chocolate. >> okay. >> if you're a chocolate lover, that can boost blood flow and improve overall circulation in your bod. >> isn't it only dark chocolate? >> dark chocolate because they have flavinols. dark chocolate over a long period of time seems to have health, if you want something with more flavinols buy cocoa via. this can help relax your blood vessels. ever think of your blood vessels relaxing and staying calm. >> by binge eating chocolate is not what we recommend. >> that's bad. >> okay. the average amount we eat as far as candy a year. >> the average american is going to eat 24 pounds of candy a year. does that sound a lot, two pounds a month. is that a lot? >> i think so. >> that's three candy bars a

week. >> i knock that out. >> do you really? >> yes, i do. >> a lot of people eat less and some eat more. that's the average. >> i must eat mine and willie's. >> you're eating for two. >> sssh, don't start rumorses. next up on the list. >> chocolate does not cause weight gain. can even cause weight loss. >> how is that true and so much sugar? >> you eat candy and you're thin. >> good point. >> and the idea with chocolate is if you deprive yourself and think bad foods don't have this, you often don't have the kind of control that you really need so you go i'll eat chocolate and goes directly to my hip because you're eating a lot. the highest consume nerts world are the swiss and they only is v an 8% rate of overweight and obesity so there's moderation there. >> who knew. >> to recap chocolate, good for circulation and helps you lose weight. 2 for 2. >> and finally halloween is the top halloween for candy purchased. what other holidays beat out? >> 90 million pounds of candy for halloween, what's the next

highest holiday? >> easter. >> christmas isn't even on the list. 200 million pounds of candy is sold and half of that is halloween. maybe we eat it the whole year. do you eat halloween candy all year? >> i get rid of it mostly the first couple of nights. >> my favorite is candy corn. >> what is your favorite? >> nestle crunch, reese peanut butter cup or twix. >> pick one. >> twix. >> crunchy but likes chocolate. >> a layered man. >> now i know what's good for me. >> thank you. >> brush your teeth. >> coming up, kathie lee and hoda after your local news and weather. >> let's dig in. >> let's dig in. anncr: washington's revolving door.

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9:57 is the time now on this wednesday, october 31st, 2012. i'm eun yang. an earlier crash is causing huge delays in maryland. let's go danella sealock with the traffic. good morning. >> good morning. moments ago, the accident cleared. it's the outer loop as you approach new hampshire avenue. delays remain as you make your way past 50, you can see sluggish here to i-95.

you are under speed at 23 miles per hour. it's better because earlier, 9 miles per hour. in jermantown, a serious crash and all lanes are blocked. let's head other to tom for the forecast. >> passing sprinkles possible. a lot of clouds, highs in the mid-50s and breezy. no rain. then on friday/saturday, sunshine. cold mornings. afternoon highs in the mid-50s. back to work and school on monday/tuesday. partly cloudy. highs, 50. >> thank you. coming up, complete coverage of sandy.

hem low, everybody, it is winesday, wednesday, october 31st. would have been, under normal circumstances, a big halloween celebration here, but the east coast has just been through a massive, massive, devastating storm. and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone who has been affected by this, i don't know anyone who hasn't, hoda.

hoda was covering it for "dateline" and we are lucky and blessed to have -- we are blessed that hoda is still with us. >> i have covered a bunch of these storms. we were at this place called long beach at long island. that is me at the pier with a slicker on. that is a monday before -- oh, wow. >> high tide was coming. >> oh, wow. >> trying to show the transition of what was happening this is my feeble attempt with my producer, rob, of crossing the street and i think it just got to a point where it was so windy and rain, really before it even -- >> you said at the end, you were like waist high. >> ending up crossing of and walking the boardwalk, because we were getting swamped. long beach has the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. sandwiched in between. 600 feet of land. >> lots of little houses that have been there forever, right? >> a beautiful spot.

but we ended up shooting there with some beautiful filies, by the way, really great people. their homes were flooded out and they ended up, you know, some stayed with relatives, some ended up just riding through the storm. there was a guy in this house who had his elderly mom with him and his blind dog, believe it or not. amazing. we end up leaving there and we went to queens, breezy point. and i have to tell you, i have covered lots and lots of storms, the idea that your home is on fire while the area around you is swamped with water. there's so much water and you can't put the fire out. these guys, just so you know, by the a-- after the flames burned out, the fire chief of 30 years described it as berlin. >> 110 homes. 16r7b8 >> 111. one guy said he was in the house, saw the flames, put one kid on the surf board, waist-deep water, pushed the kid

on the surf board with the fire and the wind and the rest of it going. and it was just -- these families in that particular neighborhood of queens were so -- i was almost envious of just how beautiful they were with each other. it was one of those things, they lost everything and when you watch them, they felt so full. like there was something about these families. >> well, you know, puts everything into perspective. you may have lost all your stuff, but if you industrial each other. >> yeah. >> and that's the way we all feel coming through this. >> and sometimes there's even a weird bit of levity. >> you guys have been tweeting us, tweets, make us laugh again. we're trying to. >> this is kind of dumb, i was interviewing this family, the guy was hoisting up two kids and talking to him about would he leave again and the kids, very rambunctious and i want to apologize for the 2-year-old, didn't mean it. let's watch. >> really scary. we wish we had taken the warning

seriously and had left. >> really? >> if i could do it all over again, i would have -- i would have left immediately. >> anyway, i felt ter foible that are little boy. >> that was like me and the puppy. we didn't mean t. >> didn't mean t. >> this little boy was okay. that family did just fine. >> thank you. >> is true. they were -- everybody was asked to evacuate, if you were low-like and on coastal regions and we have lived in our house almost 20 years and we are right on the water. and we have never left before because we were on a 20-foot cliff. and so, we have always felt like if we stayed, then we can be a beacon for anybody else and that's -- thank you lord that's exactly what happened. >> stayed with you? >> we went to all of our neighbors ahead of time and -- >> big old trees around. >> about five of them, well over 100 years old. went to every neighbor in our back, chestnut's been there probably 150 years. but we went to every one of them said if you're staying, please know that you can stay here. so we have had -- we have really

had a great time with our neighbors the last few days. we cooked ahead of time. we had spaghetti out the wazoo. i don't think there's a bottle of wine left in the wine cellular. th you look around and see all darkness. >> there is a place to go they knew they could come to your house, that makes feel infinitely better. >> want you to be a beacon, you need an escape route, a safe haven. >> the jersey shore -- a lot of people only know about the jersey shore, i hate to say it from the tv show and what they have seen, but if you look at the roller coaster people have ridden with their family for years and the boardwalk just a bunch of -- just trash. the rebuilding of these tiny businesses. >> yeah. >> if you think about all the folks there and all -- a lot of the people in manhattan, you can't get transport from point a to point b, people are busy trying to get to work, a lot of these businesses, you know,

governor christie is on it i have to say. he is on t. >> mayor bloomberg has been terrific, governor cuomo. >> yep. anyway, you just look at some of these pictures. it is like third world war or something. unbelievable. so we are -- power is out in many, many parts of the country, but we have been listening, our surrounding area. we have been listening to your tweets and things. >> lighten the load. >> not just going to be all about the storm today but we do need to let you all know that the luncheon that hoda and i were looking forward to seeing you again, the "scandalous" luncheon, gallagher's cancelled for today, trains not running in new york, subways aren't, airports closed. i guess jf ask. open for very few flights. so we are going to -- canceled our matinee for today, have our show tonight, so, please, if you are able to get there even if it is not to our show, guys, i remember after 9/11, mayor giuliani at the time said if you

want to do something to start the healing go to a broadway show, because they are gonna close if people don't come. if you're possibly able to get to a show today, tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, it would be so fabulous for all the businesses in midtown. if you're not facing life or death situation, you know, come on down, come see everybody on broadway. and they tried to do a little -- a bunch of singers dark yesterday on broadway, they got together down at the ticket place in times square and they -- >> sang a song. >> sang a little song everybody needed to hear. let's listen to that. ♪ the sun will come out tomorrow ♪ ♪ try to hang on till tomorrow ♪ come what may ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow, i love you, tomorrow ♪ ♪ you're only a day away >> very nice. >> did you see the huge rainbows

yesterday that came out? >> popping, baby. >> i mean, come on. came through this. and we want to send our love to phil hughes, one of our -- one of our security guys who lost his home out at rockaway. grateful just to get his three kids out. so, you know, just check on your neighbors, everybody, check on your neighbors, make sure that the elderly, too. make some casseroles for people. >> start cook. >> be a good neighbor. >> we should point out, by the way, it is halloween. and at this pointly we dress up, we drips, we didn't today for obvious reasons. people enjoying them soechbs this halloween and give a shoutout to the seniors doing the man officer maonster mash i, virginia. let's see what they have to show. ♪ ♪ i was looking in the lab when my eyes beheld an eerie sight ♪ ♪ my monster from a slab began to rise and suddenly, to my surprise ♪ ♪ he did the mash, he did the

monster mash ♪ ♪ the monster mash, it was graveyard smash ♪ ♪ he did the mash, it was on in a flash ♪ ♪ he did the monster mash >> those crazy octogenarians. >> here is hannah with her cinderella costume, on the way to the bus stop with her coat on. >> how precious. >> how about this one, this little baby dressed up as a pepper? okay. >> look at the cheeks. look at the cheeks on that pepper. >> here's one, taking a shower, from kay grant crumb. >> cute. >> a couple people decided to dress up. here is diane and alex. which one am i? >> maria menounos says me. >> joy lewis. >> look at them with their

table -- >> the whole bit. >> how about thank them. > how about them. >> oh, my gosh. these scary. >> is that us? seriously, who are those people? we need substitutes. >> all right. well, thank you, everybody. okay, so, there's more going on than just us. if you're wondering what is going on behind the scenes in hollywood, we have the buzz. >> get your power drill. sara tries some extreme pumpkin carving. >> that can be dangerous. i got this snapshot thing from progressive, plugged it into my car, and got a discount just for being the good driver i've always been. i'm just out here, snap-shooting it forward. you don't want to have to pay for other people's bad driving, do you? no. with progressive snapshot, you don't have to. i'm going to snap it right now. bam, there it is. goes underneath your dash. keep safe, and keep saving. you know, i won't always be around to save you money. that's why you should get snapshot from progressive. all right, dude! thanks! to the safe go the savings.

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times like this you got to count your blessings and the see what you've still got, not what you've lost. and from "huffington post," we like to call him the naughty but nice columnist. >> good to see you. >> the celebs, of course, a lot of them like to voice their

opinions. absolutely. >> human after all and they went through what we went through, there were some really great instances of people really pulling through. jimmy fallon, a friend of yours, a friend of the show, he put on his show on monday night, but he couldn't have an audience. nobody could get into town. >> letterman, too, right? >> so did he his show without an audience. he made lots of fun of himself. that was little bit of comic relief we all needed and interestingly, one of jimmy's jokes tanked without an audience. how did he know? >> he made fun of it himself. he said you're the audience, you love it at home. it didn't work so well. >> could have shown an evergreen show. >> depp zell washington was on david letterman. he said he wouldn't have turned up for anybody but dave. a lot of tweets. >> twitter, we saw rosie o'donnell showed a picture of her backyard that now looks like a river that is --

>> a terrifying picture of a tree down. and then a lot of celebrities, too, took to twitter whether on the west -- >> wish everybody well. >> the one lovely thing i get a million e-mails, press releases every day. mop day accident get a single press release from a single celebrity promoting anything but this so it was a really good thing. >> so, moving on, jennifer aniston and justin -- >> slow news day, out shopping for furniture. >> oh, stop it, hoda. >> we are happy for them. >> this is why this is a big story. >> why? >> he has moved pretty much into her life. now they are starting fresh. they bought a house together. they are not using her furniture, they are buying furniture together, which what people are saying this is going to be a good relationship. >> cute. >> very cute. they were looking at some big comfy chairs. earlier in the year, seep buying a chandelier for $20,000. >> they can certainly afford it.

>> the other thing is, if you remember way, way back when she was first married to brad pitt, their styles were very different. >> oh, right. right. right. >> he liked real modern and she liked cozy malibu. >> cozy, look at the big leather comfy, cozy chairs, very happy together. >> so, robert pattinson is the face of dior. what? >> making $1 million. >> $12 million for a three-year deem. now, he is the face of the fragrance of dior. yes, indeed. there have been rumor in the past about hygiene, but that is not what dior is paying $12 million for this. >> brad so well that they think -- >> you would think. >> just going to be -- going to make commercials or just in -- >> makes commercials. he does wear dior on the carpet. his first big deal, however, we have to bring up the brad pitt fraying glerep -- brad pitt ad

chanel. >> people struggling to put bread on their tables they hear money -- about money like that it's hard for people to stomach. >> remember these fragrances are big business. i read last year liz taylor made $70 million from her fragrance. >> white diamonds. the most important story, the octomom checked into rehab? >> nadia. >> did check into rehab. i spoke to her manager last night, she has got an addiction to xanax, she has been prescribed because of all the stress she has been under. the one thing about octomom, interviewed her many times, she really is quite a nervous young lady and thrust into this fame overnight and all the stress of what comes with this h. >> but she made choices that put her there, rob. you know? >> the good choice and she is going to get well. >> who is taking care of her gazillion children? >> three nannies around the clock for the 14 kids and makes so much money on the x-rated video that she can afford now to have a nanny. >> any who.

>> thank you, rob. sara is going to take pumpkin carving to a whole new level. >> she has a develop of a time. >> clever. [ female announcer ] introducing yoplait greek 100. 100% new. 100% mmm... wow, that is mmm... it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. new yoplait greek 100. it is so good. presents the latest thing to wear with beautiful tops. beautiful underarms. wear with halter tops, tube tops, and bustiers.

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i even got a chance to blow them up, smash them and light them on fire. let's just say, things got a little scary. right now, i'm at the detroit zoo, but not to see the animals. i'm pumpkin carving. extreme pumpkin carving. my teacher was tom nardone and he has been caring for years. >> extreme pumpkin caring is getting from pumpkin to ja jack-o-lantern as quickly as easily as possible. >> reporter: he crafts into his own diabolical design. >> i try to come up with a new invention that destroys them in some evil way. >> are those your pumpkins? >> look at him a cute pumpkin carving. like the edward scissorhands of the grizzlies. >> we are going to make a devil

pumpkin. >> i sawed open my pumpkin, found lots of guts inside. my goop hanging out already. >> an ice cream scoop. >> that's not very extreme. >> whoa. the super scooper. >> hit me. wait, am i doing it wrong? >> looks like you're doing a good job. guts are flying. >> finally, it is time do some carving. we are revving up. i'm making a demon. this is really easy to navigate. i might actually do home repairs after this experiment. >> you ready to make a real mess? >> i power drilled the finishing touches. this is an older demon who doesn't have his dentures in. a touch of parsnips and a pepper -- a scary demon.

that scare you? >> no. >> what do you guys think of my pumpkin? >> the pepper is an amazing touch. >> she is still laughing. >> let's get ready to rumble. >> i recognize these pumpkins. >> you got hoda and i have got kathie lee and we are going to do a battle. time to smash them. >> i hate to ruin. hoda is having a good hair day. >> three, two, one. >> higher. higher. >> three, two, one. ♪ >> yeah! >> kathie lee was too easy of a competitor for hoda. she whooped her in seconds. now we have her up against the one-minute man. >> three, two, one. ♪ >> oh! man. that was more like a one second.

>> okay. didn't mess up your hair. on to the next wacky contraption that tom invented himself. >> we are going carve a pumpkin in less than one second using this device. >> oh, my gosh this is like a horror film. can i try it? >> yeah. >> you really have to thump hard. >> oh. and the grand finale, the flammable pumpkin. that's awesome. i have never lit a pumpkin on fire. but i did have one technique to teach tom. now i will show you how i like to cut my pumpkin. >> what is it, pumpkin cheesecake? extremely good. very cute. >> really wild. >> the best thing, he is a dad. and i said you're not doing this for the kids, you're just a grown up boys with toys. yep. >> really cool. thanks, sara. >> thank you. all righty.

major trick or treaters earn their candy with a little who knew trivia. >> the one active that lowers your blood pressure without raising your heart rate. >> and guess who's here? >> bobbie thomas, all kinds of fashion information we definitely need. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? mmm i can still see you. or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what he'll do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

we are back with more halloween trivia winesday wednesday. klg is across the street at the nbc experience store, ready to happened out 100 bucks to those who get the questions right and to those who don't, guess what they get, kathie lee's wonderful cd. here to help me out in the studio is billboard's editorial director, bill werty. you ready? >> i'm so ready. you look pumped. across the street to kath. >> look who is here, all the way from manchester, he can land, prince harry this young man is celebrating 24is 1st birthday tomorrow. so welcome, welcome to america what movie is this line from?

"red rum, red rum, red rum," nightmare on elm street, friday the 13th, the shining or psycho? >> b. >> did he say b? you're wrong, maty. >> the accept a "the shining." it is aged well like a fine wednesday wipe, keep when it came out it was not well received. stephen king did not speak kindly of the movie, roger ebert didn't review t over the years it has back true classic. what toward believe is a great movie. sure. is. back across the street to kathy. >> young lady visiting from texas. finish the lyrics to the adams family theme song. these cher creepy and cooky, serious and spooky ♪ >> you remember the adams family? >> no they are all --

>> a very big --and spooky ♪ >> you remember the adams family? >> no they are all -- >> a very big -- >> all took cookie. >> it is ookie. >> what is ookie? >> like cooky but an a lighter. the adams family is created for the cartoonist, who created them. people don't know this it was light weighed, started 15950 single-panel cartoons, half of which ran in "the new yorker." >> heavy stuff. >> this lady from arizona. what classic horror movie is this clip from? watch here?

>> what is that from? >> poll ter guise. >> yeah, i still chills with "they're here." that sent the legend of steven spiel beryl, one week apart, out came "poll ter guise," one of the top ten grossing movies of all time and "et." >> oh. >> yeah. >> very good info. back across to kath. >> looks like prince harry's little brother. also from england. all right, honey, name this song, is it casper, scary, halloween haunt or monster mash? >> monster mash? >> yes! [ applause ] "the monster mash" a great song. >> number one song on the billboard hot 100 in october 1962. 50 years ago today. in fact, if i go to billboard.com, we have an amazing story about the history of this song. >> bill is feverishly working to put out the billboard magazine

despite the power outages in manhattan. >> moving services around with flashlights in our teeth. got do t. >> back across to kath. >> lovely, lovely young ladies from colorado. the exorcist was filmed at washington, d.c. at what university? >> georgetown. >> how did you know that? >> i guessed. [ laughter ] >> and she's honest. so georgetown is the spot, huh? >> i think for that honesty she should get the prize and the kathie lee cd. this movies nominated for tencl directed, also directed "the french connection" a real pedigree. >> thank you for coming to see us on this halloween. good luck getting your issues out. i know you will do it. up next, our girl, bobbie thomas is here to keep you ahead of the fashion curve. she will join me and klg right after this. 100% juice blends

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kwlooe ways to spell out your style, literally. >> sure you can wear a t-shirt that boasts your team or a way to keep your style speaking. bobby.com's bobby thomas to fill us in. hour. are you, baby? >> i'm great. i really just came across so many fun things that have a fun

message. put pump your personality out of this. rachael ray, a fan here, came up with bullying effort, don't date bullies and bullying is never fashionable, great t-shirts. so sovgts really fun way to support the cause. >> okay. >> nour we also have a t-shirt i want to show a picture of, you can literally walk in wearing your -- >> never late. >> we are early. >> you are always on time and i feel like you're 15 minutes early and i'm late. cute from print liberation and you can also make your own message t with custom ink this is so fun, i decided i wish i could but i'm already in my pajamas. you can do anything you want or make one up like this probably selling these as well. all really affordable ways to wear a pop of person eighth. now, i got a kick out of these. you have to read what this says. i love big books and i cannot lie. and this is so funny this is the

bag that i always forget to bring to the store. these are really funny, again, from different affordable ways to caray different purse. air. dorable. i love it. >> now, when it comes to the little ones, we have a lot of fun this is a onesie that says, mommy is way more fun now that she can drink. some great jewelry options that had fun quirkiness to them. these say stunning diamond necklace, wishless by i love blocks. and some really great jewelry online. there's one that says do not disturb and it's from hsn.

it looks like a door hanger. and great earrings, sells these for $10. it says in one ear and out the other. >> very great. >> now, i know we love our wine around here, so come on down. these glasses are fun. we see them all the times, but this was a really funny thing. girls night is the original social networking site and so i just thought that was physical run and sc cellular that i love, alexandra ferguson, makes these pillows, call your mother go to the gym, be nice or leave, all these really great sayings. another way to express yourself at home, at the bottom of a heaping piece of cake is a big -- >> awful. terrible. >> that he is are called intervention ware, says do you really need that second helping? >> cute. >> these may be your secret. and last but not least, if you have been online and see those really funny e-cards, some e-cards, you can bring these to life and they have coffee mugs,

you can literally put whichever one you like, this one says, let's boost office morale by going to drink and complain about office morale. and this says i'm outdoorsy in that i like drinking out on patios. there's a great -- >> something for everybody. >> all the information online. >> thank you, girls. all right, if you can -- >> what? if you just can't relax, something you can do to take the stress level down for poor hoda. you can do it today. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with a low national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003.

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did you know that crafting is calming? yes, indeedy. another study this one by the american medical association says crafting produces a drop in heart rate and blood pressure which would mean danny is probably the most relaxed guy around here. >> we are about to join him.

danny is the author of a new book called "upcycling celebration." how many books do you have? >> that's number ten. >> fancy, danny. >> all right. what are we making? >> so, all of these upcycling duties who knew the whole time i have been reducing your blood pressure. >> that what it is? >> some sort of reaction. what are we doing today, danny boy? >> so it is halloween. you knee, it is a novice kraft. if you are new to crafting, what the study found it lowers your blood pressure because it is a disshrank, takes you a way from what's going on in the world, focus on some things, you start with wine bottles. >> i like it so far. >> just use spray paint or craft paste. what you do to see how they are a little spooky, like ghosts here, the eyes and the mouth? >> yeah. >> like a ghost. the trick to the spray paint do

little one, two, three. >> wow. >> i feel so calm. oh, no, look at the eye, now i'm feeling anxiety. >> crying. crying. all right. let's move on. what's next? >> even the bottles. so sewing is one of the things they found is meditative, it is difficult, really about repetitive action, over and over and over, like this is one of those things really inexpensive, take a snip with the scissors, like this and this is just old bath towels, making an upcycled bath mat, how cool is that? you make the little strips. >> then you sew them. >> no you just -- >> pull them through? and tie them? >> make the knot. >> stop it, danny. even hoda can do that. >> yeah. >> hoda, can you use scissors? >> so funny.

>> all right. >> so calm and good. >> feel like i'm getting a massage right now. >> here is a sharpie for you. a great thing. kids, great to craft with your kids, so much electronic stimulation, kids on the smartphone. what you can do is take containers, like milk containers, paint them a specific color and make a town out of these containers. >> or make a little -- we are having fun, leave us alone. this is a great one because really who doesn't -- they are buildings. >> oh, well, nobody told me. i wasn't looking. >> a whole city. >> oh. >> oh, look at that. >> look at mine. >> their kids, they just need a carton and some paint. you know, this is the thing like even in an office environment are it is good to get distract

and do something. >> how about doing your job? >> your boss is gonna love this. there is an idea, a concept. hurry up, got to go >> this is a really fun one, it has a spa-like effect, make your own liminary, balloons filled with water. you dip it into a pot of hot wax over time. look what you get. >> that's cool. really cool. finally, something that saves the segment. good. >> thank you, danny. >> we love him. he's a sweetheart. congratulations on your tenth book, buddy. hope your house is okay when you get home, too. sarah

anncr: five hundred and thirty seven. the number of votes that changed the course of american history. newscaster: florida is too close to call... anncr: the difference between what was... and what could have been. so this year, if you're thinking that your vote doesn't count. that it won't matter. well, back then, there were probably at least 537 people... who felt the same way. make your voice heard. vote. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

time for sara in the city, this time, a spirited trip

downtown. >> hundreds of year, rumored sightings of ghosts around new york city. we wanted to see for ourself, so we sent sara. >> lucky me. that's right. from a haunted house to a wine cellular full of spirits, there's a laundry list of spots in this city said to be inhabited by another force and i got to check some of them out. meet my haunted tour guide, dr. phil. no, not that dr. phil. >> i'm dr. phil. i'm not a ghost. but i'm an expert on ghosts. >> our first stop is mcsorley's old ale house. who owned this bar? >> harry houdini. >> the magician? >> the magician. >> the master illusionist, a regular at the bar while living, left his happened cuffs behind. said to be a cat lover in the afterlife. >> you see a cat on the bar, you know somebody was purring him and loving him. houdini. >> next i head to washington

square park in search of more ghosts. i heard people were actually buried here in washington square park? >> yes, it goes back 100 years, 15, 20 bodies buried here. >> rumors has it that the spirits come out on halloween, searching for their missing body parts. feeling creeped out, i'm ready to leave. now we're off to the next haunted spot? >> boo. >> oh, gosh. we make our way to the wine cellular. reminds me of kathie lee and hoda. who supposedly haunts this? >> edgar allen poe, the master of the supernatural. >> powe is said to drink wine from an unopened bottle in this cellar. and dr. phil isn't the only one feeling that. >> you feel like you are not

alow. there are ghosts that enjoy the spirits. spirits and spirits. >> the merchant house museum and dr. phil and i are going to see what we can scare up. >> this house is reportedly haunted by an entire family. >> the claim to fame that they have the most ghosts. >> the resident ghost expert recounts stories of mysterious piano playing. >> a couple sitting in the garden say we heard music drifting from the parlor, wonderful that you still use the family piano. >> the real irony of the story, at the time, the piano was in disrepair and could not be played at all. >> oh, that's good. we make our way upstairs. >> this haunted room. we are seeing things in this room, things from the ball of energy moving across the floor, flashes of light in photographs. >> house filled with strange sounds and shadows, even i was spooked. [ screaming ]

no joke. it was a rubber rat that scared me before and i -- [ screaming ] [ laughter ] >> oh, let's go and do some crafts. all right. >> let's go do some calming crafts, sara. tomorrow, ambush makeover. >> real housewives of atlanta. >> bye. [ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney

would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life.

this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.